Bolt... has struggled with injuries.
-File photo
Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
WORLD JUNIOR record holder in the 200 metres, Usain Bolt, is likely to be taking orders from a new coach, Glen Mills, when the track and field season starts later this year.
Sources close to the runner told The Gleaner that Bolt, who failed to advance from the preliminary rounds of his pet event at the 28th Olympic Games in Athens on Tuesday after running a pedestrian 21.05 seconds and placing fifth in his heat, has parted ways with Fitz Coleman, who guided him during his first year in professional track and field at the IAAF High Performance Training Centre (HPTC) in Kingston.
The source, who asked not to be named, also said it was likely that Bolt could also compete in the 400m next year instead of just the 4x400m relays as he did this season.
When contacted in Athens, Bolt's local manager Norman Peart refused to confirm or deny the allegations, offering a curt "no comment".
Peart also refused to say whether Bolt, who turned 18 earlier this month, would remain at the HPTC, saying only that the likelihood of him staying in Jamaica was very high.
TOP SPRINT COACH
Mills has long been one of the top sprint coaches in the world and has conditioned IAAF World Championship 100-metre champion Kim Collins of St. Kitts and Nevis and many-time former Jamaican Olympian Raymond Stewart, among others.
Bolt, who set the World Junior record of 19.93 seconds at the Carifta Games in Barbados earlier this year, has been shrouded in controversy since he pulled out of several meets, including the first Jamaica International Invitational at the National Stadium on May 7, several meets in Europe and the IAAF World Junior Championships in Italy last month.
His absence from the meets were due to a series of injuries to his hamstring and lower back and word from Athens was that yet another injury, this time to his ankle, also hindered his participation in the Games.
The latest injury, it was learnt, came when he had to pull up suddenly after someone crossed his path while he was doing wind sprints during training in Athens last week.
Efforts to contact Mills and Coleman, who are both in Athens as part of the Jamaican coaching staff, proved futile.
