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After all the Olympic hoopla, Usain Bolt says he just wants to get back to his day job. Running fast. “Track and field is my job. This is what I do, I work,” Bolt told reporters in Zurich, where he will race for the first time since Beijing in the 100 meters Friday.
“Right now I’m just trying to get my blood pumping pretty much. I’ve been doing a little bit of training and just looking forward to the meeting.”
The new Olympic champion and world record holder at 100m and 200m landed in Switzerland Monday, direct from China for the first of three European meets before he can head back to an inevitable hero’s welcome in Jamaica.
“I know the celebrations will wait till I get home so I’m not worried,” said 22-year-old Bolt, who was serenaded by a crowd of 91,000 in the Bird’s Nest stadium singing “Happy Birthday” to him last week.
The work promises to be lucrative if Bolt can lower the 9.69-second time he set with ease in the Olympic 100 final.
The Weltklasse meet organisers have offered a world record bonus of $US50,000 ($A58,300) and a one kilogram gold bar worth around $US27,000 ($A31,500).
Bolt will get another $US16,000 ($A18,700) for winning the race, adding up to a potential haul of $US93,000 ($A108,400).
“I don’t know what time I will run,” Bolt said.
“I am just trying to come here and let the fans enjoy my performance. Because they come here to see a performance.”
Away from the track, the 1.96-metre world’s fastest man cut a laid-back, languid figure and said he has been catching up on sleep since arriving in Switzerland.
Coach Glenn Mills said his athlete has been in heavy demand to attend functions for sponsors, media and the Jamaican government.
“He hasn’t really had time to get rest and training,” Mills said.
“But he is still pretty much in good shape and he will put on a good show on Friday.”
As the new superstar of athletics, it is a lifestyle that Bolt likely will have to get accustomed to while being hailed by commentators as the man to restore the sport’s credibility and popularity after two decades of doping scandals.
Bolt said he was ready to accept some of the responsibility to regain the trust of fans.
“I am just trying to help (the sport),” he said.
“It is a good thing I am doing. I hope other people see that.
“I can’t do it on my own personally but the other guys definitely are stepping up. I think track and field is getting better.”
Bolt denied that his trademark celebrations – which the Beijing fans appeared to loved – were disrespectful to his opponents, as was suggested by International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge.
“I never disrespect any other athletes,” he said.
“If you did track and field you should know that. I saw that I was going to win and I celebrated because I worked hard all year and I got what I wanted.”
Mills defended Bolt and said he believed the accusations originated from American television stations, who he said didn’t complain when Florence Griffith-Joyner played to the crowd while winning the women’s 100 and 200 meters in 1988.
“They are the ones who started it,” he said.
“I think that Usain’s dominance in the 100 meters brings a lot of jealousy because normally you have one country that usually dominates this event.
“I have been to eight Olympics and I have seen celebration of all kinds.
“I was in Seoul and Flo-Jo was running the last 20 meters with her hand waving in front of the other competitors. Nobody said anything.
“I think the comments are unfair and that there was a certain amount of targeting.
“If they are trying to get in his mind they are wasting their time.”
In front of a sold-out crowd of 26,000 in Zurich on Friday, Bolt is scheduled for a rematch with Olympic runner-up Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago and Walter Dix of the United States, who won the bronze medal.
Bolt will stay in Switzerland to take aim at his new 200 mark of 19.30 at the Athletissima Grand Prix meet in Lausanne on Tuesday.
He then goes to Brussels, Belgium, to run the 100 at the final Golden League meet of the European summer on September 5.
Mills believes Bolt one day will run the 9.52 time that biomechanics experts believe could have been achieved in a flat-out effort in the 100 final in Beijing. But not just yet.
“This is his first year of running the 100 meters. In two more years he should be peaking at the distance.”