OILYMPIC great Usain Bolt may consider tackling the long jump as part of his involvement in the new Nitro Athletics series.Bolt has been unveiled as the star attraction of the experimental competition, which will see six teams, consisting of 24 athletes each, contest a mix of track and field events in Melbourne in February, with a hurdles relay among the proposed non-traditional features.
Speaking at a news conference to announce the concept, Athletics Australia director John Steffensen, a 4×400 metre silver medal winner at the Athens Olympics in 2004, tried to tempt the Jamaican superstar to move outside of his comfort zone.
Steffensen said: “So are you trying to tell me if your team say: ‘Usain, We need you to do the long jump. Can you do the long jump?’ Are you going to long jump?”
And Bolt, a nine-time Olympic gold medal winner across the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, indicated he might well take up the suggestion in his capacity as a captain-coach.
“I’m a team player you guys, I’m a team player, John. I’m a team player, I’m about winning,” he said.
“That would be cool because as I said, it’s a team event and I can do what I want and it will be fun.
“I think I’m at that point in my career where I don’t have to stress too much about “if” I do long jump because my coaches don’t want me to do it, but now I actually can. So it will be fun to do different things.”(Sportsmax.com)