Bolt - 2008

BEIJING, China (CMC):

Glen Mills, coach of Olympic triple gold medallist Usain Bolt, believes his charge is far from achieving the optimum speed to cement himself as a sprint immortal.

Despite Bolt's heroics at the Beijing Olympic Games, where he dominated the 100m and 200m and decimated three world records, Mills says the athletics sensation will run much faster when he gets stronger and develops a more refined stride technique.

"He is still not as strong as he should be," Mills said on the Spikes Magazine website.

"If he gets stronger, his stride frequency will improve and when we achieve that in perhaps the next two years, he is going to run even faster."

Mills, who in recent years transformed Bolt from a teen prodigy into a sprint sensation on the elite stage, gave insight into the technical adjustments that led to his Olympic dominance.

Running the bend

"Our emphasis was to get him as technically correct as possible and that took us over two seasons," said Mills.

"Last year, we concentrated on correcting his running the bend, making him more efficient around the curve.

"I felt that I could significantly improve his 200 metres. He was leaning inside on the turn and was unbalanced. We got him to lean forward and that contributed to him developing a good first 100 metres."

Still buzzing from his historic Olympic feat where he landed three gold medals with three world records, Bolt admits to making a huge turnaround under the guidance of Mills.

"Things changed dramatically when I joined up with Glen," he said. "(Glen) is like a father figure to me. ... He is a guiding light in my career and he has shown me the way to improve myself both as a person and as an athlete."

Praise for Bolt has not stopped. Even Stephen Francis, head coach of the MVP Track Club which produced a slew of gold medallists in Beijing, acknowledged Bolt's greatness.

He said: "You have Einstein. You have Isaac Newton. You have Beethoven. You have Usain Bolt.

"You have people who are exceptions. It's not explainable how and what they do."