Coach needed convincing about Bolt

By Gene Cherry

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) - World 200 meters silver medalist Usain Bolt always thought he could be a fast 100 metres runner. Convincing his coach took some time.

His bargaining chip turned out to be a 200 metres run, the coach, Glen Mills, told Reuters this week as he reviewed the 21-year-old's stunning 100 metres of 9.76 seconds last Saturday.

"I told him last year that if he broke the Jamaican record in the 200, 19.8 something, I would allow him to run one 100," Mills said by telephone from Kingston, Jamaica.

"He broke the record (running 19.75 seconds) and he said: 'You've got to keep your promise'."

So Bolt, the world junior 200 metres record holder, ran his first professional 100 metres last year in Greece, clocking 10.03 seconds.

"After that there was no stopping him," Mills said.

The coach agreed Bolt would run the shorter race early this season for experience and speed work, with the 200 remaining his emphasis for August's Beijing Olympics. A 100-200 sprint double might be considered for 2009.

Saturday's run -- the second fastest 100 metres of all time, behind compatriot Asafa Powell's world record of 9.74 seconds -- may have changed that, especially since Bolt lowered his personal best by almost three-tenths of a second in his third professional race at the distance.

Bolt will contest several more 100s before the late June Jamaican Olympic trials. The first will be on May 18 in Trinidad. Another could be a May 31 New York race featuring world champion Tyson Gay.

His only scheduled 200 before the Jamaican trials will be in Ostrava on June 12, Bolt's agent, Ricky Simms, said.

TRIALS STRATEGY

Afterwards, Bolt and his coach will map out their trials strategy. Bolt's early-season performance and an analysis of how other 100 metres runners are doing will be determining factors.

Bolt would not express a preference.

His lanky body may work against him at the start of the 100 but once he starts rolling he is difficult to defeat, as he proved on Saturday.

"It was an incredible run," Paul Doyle, Powell's agent, told Reuters in an e-mail.