By Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
Teenage sprint sensation Usain Bolt (left) is hugged by Sports Minister Portia Simpson Miller at the Norman Manley International Airport on Sunday night, shortly after his arrival from the Athens Olympics in Greece.
Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer
TOP LOCAL sprint coach Glen Mills confirmed that he has been offered the job to guide the talented athlete Usain Bolt and there exists a "strong possibility" that he will take up the job.
"I have been approached," Mills confirmed to The Gleaner on Sunday night, moments after arriving from Greece with seven athletes and other officials.
"There is a strong possibility. I have had discussions with his manager, Mr. Norman Peart, but without any conclusion.
"But as far as I know at this point I have no definite arrangement with Bolt and his management," he quickly added.
LONGEST SERVING SPRINTER
However Mills, who guided the career of one of Jamaica's longest serving male sprinters, Raymond Stewart, said it's not a challenge to coach Bolt but "it's more of a challenge to Bolt to reach the levels where people have set for him".
Mills said: "What the country has done is to make Bolt a finished product and therefore they expect from him the production of a finished product.
"Bolt might be an outstanding junior but he is not an outstanding athlete at the senior level."
Bolt, the 200 metres World Junior Record
holder, has been taking orders from Fitz Coleman since leaving William Knibb High School prematurely to be a part of the IAAF High Performance Training Centre (HPTC) at the University of Technology (UTech) in Kingston.
The promising Bolt, who turned 18 just under two weeks ago, failed miserably to advance to the second round of the 200m at the Olympics, running a pedestrian 21.05 seconds for fifth in his only race.
That time is way off the sensational 19.93 he recorded at the Carifta Games in Barbados earlier in the year.
The lanky sprinter has been prone to controversy since last year when he was expected to take part at the World Championship in France. He was part of the Jamaican team to the Paris games but did not participate as he was said to be "not fit" following a bout of "pink eye" weeks before that hampered his training.
The Jamaican public was unhappy as they were eager to see how their rising star performed against senior athletes. More controversy followed leading up to the Olympics, as he was pulled out of several top meets, including the first Jamaica International Invitational at the National Stadium on May 7 because of injuries.
Bolt also missed the crucial National Trials for the Olympic Games through injury, but the public was not convinced as his management team did
a poor job in disseminating
information.
PULLED OUT
He was reported fit for the World Junior Championships in Italy last month, but once again, at the last moment, he pulled out. His absence from the meets were due to a series of hamstring and lower back injuries which experts say threatened his career.
Prior to the start of the Olympics, he was taken to Germany and passed fit then to the amazement of the world, he failed to get out of the first round. Blame was attributed to his coach and management staff and a new start was recommended to preserve Jamaica's most precious talent, thus linking the star athlete with top sprint coach Mills.
