STOP trash-talking and focus on training.
That's the message from Jamaican Usain Bolt to sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson.
Eight-time Olympic gold medalist Bolt wants the American to start focusing on her career rather than to continue harping about her ban that cost her a spot in the US team to the Tokyo Olympics.
Her current attitude will only hand the advantage to her Jamaican rivals, explained Bolt.
In her return to the track last month after the ban, Richardson, 21, finished last in the 100-metre dash, which was won by Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah, who also took the 100-metre Olympic gold in Tokyo.
Bolt says he is not impressed by Richardson’s attitude, given the historical rivalry between American and Jamaican sprinters, and that Jamaicans will go the extra mile to win.
Bolt said he had experienced the same thing with American sprinter Justin Gatlin, who had goaded him going into the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Gatlin finished second to Bolt in the 100-meter final.
Bolt said Richardson got her comeuppance for all that trash talk at the Prefontaine Classic.
Bolt who retired in 2017 has now ventured into music. His debut reggae album “Country Yutes” is out, and he says it could help Richardson mentally prepare her for her next race.
“I would recommend my full album. I would give her the whole playlist to Sha’Carri. For me she’s been through a lot you know, she’s lost her mom.
“So one of the songs on the album is called ‘R.I.P. My G’ it’s about one of my friends and I lost a couple years ago. So it’s little bit of everything on this album it is for everybody.
“It’s a vibe song, hard times, positive music, it says a little bit of everything - that’s why I think people really love it because everyone has their own personal favorite.”
Richardson won her spot for the 100 metres at the Tokyo Olympic Games but the United States Anti-Doping Agency said she had tested positive for marijuana which she later explained was a way for her to cope with the sudden death of her mother.
But Bolt says, where it comes to drugs, athletes absolutely have to follow the rules.
Rules are rules and anyone who disobeys will have to live by its consequences, Bolt opines. - Agencies, September 19, 2021
