• Athletics

Injured Bolt to miss rest of season

ESPN staff
August 10, 2010
Usain Bolt found Tyson Gay too quick last week © Getty Images
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Usain Bolt will miss the remainder of the athletics season with a back injury.

The Jamaican world and Olympic champion has struggled with niggling injuries this term and was surprisingly beaten by Tyson Gay in Stockholm last week. Bolt suggested he needed to work on his starts, but it would appear he may have been hampered by injury as he will spend the rest of the season on the sidelines.

Manager Ricky Simms revealed on Tuesday that Bolt had been examined by a doctor in Germany and the back problem "restricts his ability to generate power in his stride." Simms added that racing "in this condition could risk injury" to 23-year-old's legs.

A crumb of comfort for Bolt was that Simms stated an MRI scan showed his previous Achilles' tendon injury had cleared up.

A heel problem restricted Bolt earlier in the year, but he made a winning return to the track in July when beating Asafa Powell.

The win over his fellow Jamaican set him up for a clash with Gay, but it proved something of a non-event as Gay won with ease in a time of 9.84.

The news of Bolt's decision to draw a line under the season will be a blow to the organisers of the meetings in Zurich and Brussels that he was scheduled to take part in.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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