Usain Bolt admits he will struggle to hold back the tears when his track career comes to an end at World Championships in London
Jamaican superstar will chase one final gold medal haul at Olympic Stadium and it may be an emotional affair
USAIN BOLT hopes he does not cry when he brings the curtain down on his track career in London.
The sprint superstar, 30, will chase one final World Championship gold medal in the 100 metres at the Olympic Stadium this summer.
And Bolt fears his emotions might run away with him as he waves goodbye to fans.
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The reigning Olympic and world champion and world record-holder over 100m and 200m admitted: “I hope I don’t cry at the end.
“I’m not an emotional person but to think this will be my last race, my last championship . . . maybe I can hide the tears with a bit of sweat. I sweat a lot.”
Bolt, who has eight Olympic gold medals and 11 world crowns, is determined to quit on a high by successfully defending the 100m title he won in Beijing two years ago when he famously beat American drug cheat Justin Gatlin — despite a season struggling with injuries.
The two rivals are set to meet again in the final on Saturday, August 5 in Stratford — providing everything goes to plan.
Jamaican Bolt, speaking in a documentary to be shown on BBC One today, said: “The idea of losing keeps me going.
“I CAN’T lose. To go out losing is not my thing.
“I want to give the fans one of the best goodbyes possible, do it in style and give them a show.
“I’m training and pushing hard towards August. I don’t worry about other athletes either, as you never know who is going to show up on the day.”
On returning to the scene of his Olympic 100m, 200m and 4x100m gold-medal heroics five years ago, Bolt said: “London is the right place to go out.
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“I have happy memories of London 2012. Always.
“I know the stadium is going to be packed, it’s going to be massive.
“For me, London 2012 was one of the best championships of my life. It was brilliant.
“I remember Super Saturday. I thought the noise was loud for me until Mo (Farah), Jess (Ennis-Hill) and Greg (Rutherford) came out. Just feeling that energy . . . I feed off that.”
Bolt also insists he is happy with the decision he first made back in 2015 to quit the track this summer — and go out at the top.
As SunSport revealed last year, he is talking to IAAF chief Seb Coe about working with the athletics governing body when he hangs up his spikes.
Bolt insisted: “I’ve done all there is to do on the track.
“Everyone wants me to continue but it’s not that simple. I don’t want to continue and then start losing. I hate losing. You’re always going to be nervous but I’m excited about moving on to new things and having ‘me’ time.
“I genuinely wanted to retire after the Rio Olympics last summer but had one more year on my contract and I knew the fans wanted it too, so I thought: ‘Why not carry on?’ I’ve been talking to Seb Coe about helping the sport and we’re trying to figure something out.
“I know when I walk away there will be a gap, so if I can help until someone else comes along, help push the sport, then I’m happy to.”