Bolt returning to London to compete
LONDON (AP) — Usain Bolt will return to London’s Olympic Stadium to compete at a Diamond League meet later this month.
The announcement Friday came after a left leg injury led to the Jamaican sprinter withdrawing from races in Paris last month and Lausanne on Thursday.
The London event takes place three years after Bolt won three Olympic gold medals in the Olympic Stadium in the 100, 200 and 4×100-meter relay races.
The announcement about Bolt’s participation came two days after British treasury chief George Osborne decided foreign athletes would not be taxed on the earnings while in London for the two-day Anniversary Games meet.
Event organizer British Athletics could not say if Bolt will compete in both the 100 and 200-meter races July 24 in the Olympic Stadium, which was redeveloped since the 2012 Games.
“I have great memories of competing in the Olympic Stadium in the summer of 2012 and in the previous Grand Prix meets in London,” the 100 and 200-meter record holder said in a statement. “The British fans are always great and I expect there will also be a lot of Jamaican fans in the stadium.
“It will be amazing to put on another great show for them under the floodlights on the Friday night.”
Bolt’s last race was a 200 meters in New York on June 13 that he described as “really bad.” His time of 20.29 was more than a second off his world record of 19.19.
Since Bolt last competed at the Olympic Stadium, at the first Anniversary Games in 2013, the venue was redeveloped to accommodate English Premier League club West Ham from 2016 while retaining track and field facilities.