KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) – Olympic sprint relay gold medallist Michael Frater is a doubt for next year’s World Championship in Moscow after undergoing knee surgery in the United States last month. The 30-year-old told the Jamaica Observer newspaper it would take up to two months to make a recovery from the surgery, and another six months before the knee returned to full strength.
The World Championships are scheduled to run from August 10 to 18.
“To be honest all I’m really doing is concentrating on my rehab. I’m getting myself healthy and then I will think about what I’m doing,” Frater said.
“I am not in any rush to hamper myself. I’m just going to do my rehab and whenever I’m ready I’ll do it back at that time.”
Frater won gold in the 4×100 metres relay at both the 2008 Beijing Olympics and this year’s London Olympiad, in teams that included sprint legend Usain Bolt.
He was also part of the Jamaican team that captured gold at the 2009 and 2011 World Championships in Berlin and Daegu respectively.
Frater was good enough to win individual silver in the 100 metres at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki.
He was recently involved in controversy when he quit the Stephen Francis-led MVP Track Club after a bust-up with the well known coach. The split came as a result of Frater’s election to the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association.