The three-time Olympic gold medallist crashed his BMW into a ditch along a highway last month and required minor surgery on his left foot after stepping on to thorns while getting out of the wreckage.

The accident has been linked to criticism of Bolt's lifestyle since he set world records in the 100 and 200 metres at the Beijing Olympics and was part of the Jamaican team that broke the world mark in the 400-metre relay.

Apology

But Bolt, who admitted to trying marijuana in his youth and apologised earlier this year for suggesting all young Jamaicans know how to roll a joint, denied he needed to change anything.

"I don't know what they mean by (the crash being a) wake-up call because I go to training and I do what I have to do," Bolt said yesterday. "People can say anything they want to say; that is their opinion. I guess people take things out of context a lot and I just have to watch what I say, but I try not to change my lifestyle because I am not going to let anyone change me.

"People come under pressure from the media, they go all crazy. I am not going to let that happen to me. I am going to be myself. I am not going to change. I don't go out a lot, I stay home."

The 22-year-old Bolt, who has had the stitches removed and returns to action tomorrow in a 150-metre street race in Manchester, acknowledged that the crash caused him to analyse his lifestyle.

"I was just frightened. I was not thinking about my career and then, when it calmed down, I started thinking about what could have happened and everything else," Bolt said. "Definitely, after something like that, you look at life through and over and look at what has gone wrong - where you should improve or should be careful."

favourite football team

Despite his coach urging him to pull out of the Manchester event, Bolt has come to see his favourite football team, Manchester United, and break Donovan Bailey's 12-year-old mark of 14.99 seconds in the rarely run 150.

"I ran 14-something, but I have run it only in training. I don't go worrying about times. That is when you start running slower," said Bolt, who will be at Old Trafford today for United's match against Arsenal. "It is a competition for me because I take everything seriously. You cannot compare it with breaking the world records, but I told my coach that I really wanted to come here.

"After the accident, he was having second thoughts about sending me. But I wanted to come here. I am happy to be here."

The operation has put his preparations behind schedule, but Bolt feels he can peak at the Berlin World Championships in August.

"I'm getting there. I'm a little bit off, but I think I will get there by Berlin," said Bolt, who added that he could have won the 100 in Beijing in 9.56 rather than 9.69 if he hadn't slowed before the finish to start a chest-beating celebration.

"I'm focusing on just one thing and that's getting to a World Championship and doing as good as possible ... . If I want to be a legend, I have to keep working at it. That's what keeps me going."