Usain Bolt will be given as long as it takes to prove he deserves a playing contract, the Central Coast Mariners said Wednesday after the Australian club agreed to help the sprint king realise his dream of becoming a professional footballer.
The 31-year-old eight-time Olympic champion, who retired from athletics last year, is an avid Manchester United fan who has long wanted to play top-flight football.
He has already tried out with teams in Germany, Norway and South Africa, to no avail.
Undeterred, the A-League club have agreed to see what he has to offer with the sprint legend set to arrive at their training ground in Gosford, 75 kilometres (47 miles) north of Sydney, later this month.
“It’s important to note that Usain Bolt comes to the Central Coast Mariners to train for an indefinite period. His training program will be structured to see if he can reach a level of playing that earns him a professional contract,” said Mariners chief executive Shaun Mielekamp.
“This may take three weeks, this may take three months, this may take six months. This make take longer, who knows. Only time will tell.
“It’s exciting to see what this will do for our region but the importance for us right now is to look after an athlete who’s coming to try and become a professional player.”
– ‘Anything is possible’ –
Bolt, who has agreed to live on the Central Coast, said he was thrilled to be given another chance to showcase his abilities ahead of the A-League season starting in October.
“I am very excited about coming to Australia and would like to thank the owner and management of the Central Coast Mariners for giving me this opportunity,” said the Jamaican.
“It has been my dream to play professional football and I know that it will involve a lot of hard work and training to get to the level required to play and make an impact in the A-League.
“I always say that ‘anything is possible, don’t think limits’ and I look forward to the challenge.”
The 100m and 200m world record-holder has previously trained with Norwegian club Stromsgodset, German Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund and South Africa’s Sundowns.
Asked what Bolt needed to do to win a contract, Mielekamp said: “Impress the coach.”
“He has to get to a level where the coach is confident he’ll play regular football and once that decision is reached, then he’ll be offered a playing position,” he added.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Bolt won the 100 metres gold medal with a time of 9.81 seconds. With this win, Bolt became the first athlete to win the event three times at the Olympic Games. Bolt followed up his 100 m win with a gold medal in the 200 m, which also makes him the first athlete to win the 200 m three times at the Olympic Games.
Bolt ran the anchor leg for the finals of the 4 × 100 m relay and secured his third consecutive and last Olympic gold medal in the event. With that win, Bolt obtained the “triple-triple”, three sprinting gold medals in three consecutive Olympics, and finished his Olympic career with a 100% win record in finals.However, in January 2017, Bolt was stripped of the 4 × 100 relay gold from the Beijing Games in 2008 because his teammate Nesta Carter was found guilty of a doping violation.
At the 2017 World Athletics Championships, Bolt won his heat uncomfortably after a slow start in 10.07, in his semi-final he improved to 9.98 but was beaten by Christian Coleman by 0.01. In his final individual race, in the final, Bolt won the Bronze medal in 9.95, 0.01 behind Silver medalist Coleman and 0.03 behind World Champion Justin Gatlin.
It was the first time Bolt had been beaten at a major championship since the 4×100 m relay of the 2007 World Athletics Championships. Also at the 2017 World Athletics Championships, Bolt participated as the anchor runner for Jamaica’s 4×100-metre relay team. In what many expected would be his final race, Bolt collapsed to the track after an apparent hamstring injury. He refused to get in a wheelchair and crossed the finish line with the assistance of his teammates.
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