Thaindian News

London, July 27 (IANS/CMC) Team doctor of Jamaica’s track and field outfit Winston Dawes says Usain Bolt is fit and ready for the Olympics despite lingering public concerns over his fitness.

Doctor Dawes has shrugged off suggestions that Bolt will miss the Games with injury despite reports that the Olympic champion is suffering with niggling leg and back problems, CMC reports.

Bolt withdrew from last Friday’s Monaco Diamond League meeting, where he had been due to run the 200m, with what his coach Glen Mills called a “slight” problem.

“We saw him yesterday…he is fine…there is nobody who is doing this time in training that could be injured,” Dawes told reporters.

“I just think that people panic a little and I think that he can be reassured that he is fully back and that he will be there at his very best.”

The triple Olympic gold medallist has also been forced to ponder a possible threat to his track dominance from compatriot Yohan Blake who defeated him twice during the Jamaica trials last month.

Recently, he travelled to Germany to see renowned sports doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt but Dawes has insisted that the 25-year-old would be ready to run.

“He has been tired mentally and physically and he has been really training very, very hard over the last three weeks since our championships,” said Dawes.

“He is fine. He is fine. He has done some fantastic times in training. So there should be no problems about that.”

Meantime, at a news conference in London Thursday Bolt admitted that he had recently been nursing an injury, a back problem that led to hamstring tightness.

But he said the issue has been corrected and he has been able to put together several weeks of intense training.

“It’s all about the championship,” he told reporters. “I’m ready to go.”

Bolt holds the 100-metre world record of 9.58 seconds and the 200-metre record of 19.19 seconds.

The Olympics opening ceremony will take place Friday, while the 100-metre preliminaries commence August 4.

–IANS/CMC
bs/vt