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 The 28-year-old returns to the Bird's Nest stadium where he first
stunned the world at the 2008 Olympics for the Aug 22-30
championships, bidding to retain his 100 and 200 meters titles.
Bolt is certainly short of competitive races and struggled for times
this season until he twice clocked 9.87 seconds in the 100 meters in
London late last month.
His coach Glen Mills, though, believes the Olympic champion and
world record holder in both sprints will be able to hit his straps
when it matters.
"The last two years have been very challenging for both Usain and
myself," Mills told Reuters.
"Unfortunately, he has had a number of different injuries to
overcome which have affected his training and the number of
competitions he has been able to compete in.
"But Bolt is a champion who knows nothing but excellence when
performing on the world stage."
American Justin Gatlin enters Beijing in better form than the
Jamaican with world leading marks of 9.74 and 19.57 seconds as he
seeks to win his second world sprint double since first doing so in
Helsinki in 2005.
In seven head-to-head clashes over 100 meters, Bolt has beaten
Gatlin six times.
Bolt's record at major meetings since he wrote his name into track
history by winning the 100 and 200 meters in world record times at
the Beijing Olympics is quite extraordinary.
Only a false start in the 100m four years ago in Daegu has prevented
him from sweeping the sprint titles at the 2009, 2011 and 2013 world
championships and London Olympics.
Bolt, who turns 29 the day before the world championships open,
underwent surgery on his left foot in 2014 which restricted him to
run only a few 100m races as well as the 4x100 relay at the
Commonwealth Games, where Jamaica won gold.
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This season, a blocked sacroiliac joint which restricted his
movement and placed pressure on his knee and ankle has affected his
preparations for Beijing and forced him to withdraw from the Paris
and Lausanne Diamond League meets.
"We have been making a number of changes on the way he trains and
have been getting results," said Mills. "However, I would have
wanted him to have had more races."
Bolt’s season best marks of 9.87 and 20.13 are only ranked sixth and
19th respectively in the world this year and well shy of the records
of 9.58 and 19.19 he set at the 2009 world championships.
Like Mills, though, his agent Ricky Simms is confident Bolt can
outdo all challengers once again.
"Everyone knows that Usain shows up when it comes to championships,"
he told Reuters by phone.
"He's been in this situation before, he's had a few races where it
didn't go to plan and then at the Championships he always delivers,
so I would say I’m extremely confident in Usain's ability."
Mills, who also guided Yohan Blake (2011) and Kim Collins (2003) of
St. Kitts and Nevis to 100m world titles, has now been coaching Bolt
for a decade and said the lean times made the successes all the more
enjoyable.
"It certainly would mean a great dealt to me to continue to pilot
his successes and more so in these difficult years."
(Editing by Nick Mulvenney)
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