Bolt
Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
OLYMPIC MEDAL hopeful and joint Junior 200m world record holder Usain Bolt is on schedule for a successful 2004 track and field season as far as his coach, Fitz Coleman, is concerned.
Coleman, who is one of two coaches assigned to the IAAF High Performance Training Centre (HPTC) based at the University of Technology, and in charge of 400-metre runners, believes Bolt has adapted well to the new situation and barring any setback, will be at his peak in mid to late August when the Olympic Games will be held in Athens, Greece.
Talking to reporters at the Alpart/STETHS Invitational, where Bolt made his seasonal debut with an easy win in his heat of the 400m two Saturdays ago, Coleman said because of the long season ahead, the programme called for a slow and patient build-up.
"At this point I think we are very much on target, no injuries, concentration level is there and the attitude is right," said Coleman.
"In terms of his working culture, I have no problems. As it stands right now, it couldn't be better," he added.
There will be no rush to get the 17-year-old running at his fastest before July-August for the IAAF World Junior Champion-ships and the Olympics.
BEING PATIENT
"It is a long season and that is why we are being patient in the build-up," said Coleman, who started working with Bolt last October.
"We don't want him running too much," he pointed out. "He is not in high school anymore so we are not looking at a Champs or CARIFTA in terms of trying to get him to peak early. The whole thing is going to be a steady one. You are going to see him as the season progresses. He will be running faster and faster as we go along."
Coleman would not be drawn into projections of what times he expects Bolt to run this year but the athlete who has a personal best of 20.13 seconds over the 200m, set at the Junior Pan-American games in Barbados last year, has said he is hoping to be the first junior to run under 20 seconds.
"The main goal this year is to go under 20 seconds in the 200m," Bolt told journalists. "I am really looking forward to that because this is an Olympic year and I think I will need to go under 20 seconds to get into medal contention."
Bolt, the record holder in the 200m and 400m at the Under-17 and 20 levels at CARIFTA Games, record holder in the 200m at the World Youth and Junior Games and the Pan-American games, said he hoped to do his best this season.
"You can expect the same as last season in that I will always be doing my best and to make the country proud."
Bolt, who has started working with weights for the first time in his career and who trains with former Tacius Golding 400m runner Jermaine Gonzales, Trinidadian Simon Pierre, Mellard Brown and former Herbert Morrison Technical runner Kiel Brown at the HPTC, is expected to compete at two other local meets, the Milo Western Relays in Montego Bay on Saturday, February 14 and the Gibson Relays at the National Stadium two weeks later before setting his sights on the overseas circuit.
Coleman said they were still in the process of working out a schedule with Bolt's overseas connections but would not start before the end of April to early May after winter.
Coleman said they were not sure how many meets they would be taking part in either, saying "maybe four or five meets before we settle down for the World Juniors and the Olympics".
Bolt, who is in his first year as a professional athlete since graduating from William Knibb last year, is unbeaten in the 200m at every level dating back to his first year as a Class Two athlete in 2001.
Coleman said the interaction with the athletes at the HPTC was "great".
"The energy level and the synergy is great," he said. "The guys act as if they have known each other a long time now and they work well together. As youngsters they will pull pranks on each other but they work real hard when it comes to the track and in the gym."
Coleman, himself a former outstanding athlete at the junior level, said the HPTC programme will help to ensure Jamaica's place in the short sprints and the 400m will be maintained.
"Clearly the centre is not just for Jamaicans as we have others from other Caribbean islands in the programme," he explained. "We do have some outstanding youngsters in the programme. With patience, in another year or two we should see Jamaica continue the tradition of being quite formidable in that department."
