Usain Bolt isn’t worried about doping-tainted 1980s sprinter Ben Johnson‘s claims that he could have beaten Bolt.
“He could never beat me,” Bolt said, laughing, at a press conference Wednesday before his final race of the season, a 100 meters in Brussels on Friday. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s just him trying to get attention. I don’t see Ben Johnson beating me at any time.”
You can watch the whole press conference here.
Johnson, stripped of his 1988 Olympic 100 title for steroids, went on a media tour last week promoting his new anti-doping campaign and said of today’s sprinters, “They don’t have the power I have.” Johnson has said in the past that he’s the greatest sprinter of all time and could have run a 100 in 9.3 seconds. Bolt’s world record is 9.58.
Bolt was also asked about recent issues with Jamaica’s lack of out-of-competition drug testing before the 2012 Olympics. The World Anti-Doping Agency said it will investigate Jamaica’s drug-testing issues. There have been headlines that Jamaica could be expelled from the Olympics.
“It’s funny when I heard that they said they’re gonna ban Jamaica from the next Olympics,” Bolt said. “I kind of laughed because that would be kind of interesting to see.”
Bolt said when he’s tested out-of-competition in Europe or Jamaica, he’s tested at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. Once this summer, he said he woke up, went to the bathroom, and “25 minutes after that” testers knocked on his door. He had to wait with the testers for an hour and a half before he was able to produce a sample.
Bolt also said he hasn’t talked to Mo Farah about racing the British distance champion and wasn’t sure it would happen.
“It would be something fun to do,” Bolt said. “I don’t like going into a race knowing that I’m going to lose. I would like to train and see if (I can) be in the shape to actually even not beat him but give him a good, strong competition. It’s for charity, so it would be fun. We’ll see.”
Bolt also graded his season at an eight out of 10.
“I won, but I wouldn’t say it was in Usain Bolt fashion,” he said.
At the end of the press conference, Bolt was given a trophy made out of porcelain in the form of rolled up map (photo top right). Bolt likened it to an Olympic torch.
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