Usain Bolt has backed the decision to uphold the ban on Russia's track and field athletes from the Olympics, admitting that the sport needed to "make a statement" because "doping violations are getting so bad".
Bolt, who will defend his 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay titles in Rio next month, also claimed that the revelations and exposure of widespread Russian cheating would act as a deterrent to stop athletes taking performance-enhancing drugs.
“This will scare a lot of people and send a strong message that the sport is serious about cleaning up,” he said. “For me if you have the proof and you catch somebody I definitely feel you should take action. If they feel like banning the whole team is the right action then I am all for it. Rules are rules and doping violations in track and field is getting really bad, so thumbs up.”
The Jamaican was responding to the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to uphold the ban on 68 Russian track and field athletes made by athletics' governing body, the IAAF, but he refused to be drawn on whether the entire Russian team should be banned from Rio. The International Olympic Committee has said it will decide their fate within the next week.
“That’s a tricky question,” he admitted. “I don’t stress about these things, I leave it up to the big heads to make this decision. These are sideshows, and if you get caught up in these things as athletes then you lose focus of the goal in hand. I have to focus on me going there and defending my titles.”
Bolt, who will compete over 200 metres in the Anniversary Games on Friday night, insisted he was back in top form after pulling out of the Jamaican trials earlier this month with a hamstring strain after crossing the Atlantic to visit to the German doctor Hans Muller-Wohlfahrt in Marseille.
Some critics have raised questions about Muller-Wohlfahrt, who uses unconventional techniques such as injecting calves’ blood, honey and extracts from crests of cockerels into his patients, but Bolt insisted he a made a huge difference to extending his career.
“I’ve been going there for years,” he added. “I have a really bad back problem and every year it gets worse. He’s the only person I’ve been to over the years that has figured out a way to make sure my back is OK and I can compete and I can stay on track.”
Then, without prompting, Bolt pointed to a plaster on his arm and insisted the world could trust him. “I’m tested all the time, years upon years,” he said. “I got tested this morning. The IAAF test me all the time, the World Anti-Doping Agency test me, everybody tests me. I have all the trust in my doctor and I support him 100 per cent.”
Guardian services
