Bolt rules out 2018 Commonwealth Games swan song

[February 02, 2017]  MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Jamaican sprint great Usain Bolt has no plans to extend his career beyond this year's world championships in London and has ruled out a return to Australia for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Bolt, who completed a 'treble treble' of 100m, 200m and 4x100m Olympic titles at the 2016 Rio Games, had his 2008 relay gold stripped last month after team mate Nesta Carter's re-tested sample showed traces of a banned substance.

The 30-year-old Bolt also anchored the Jamaican relay team to his only Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow in 2014 and organizers had hoped that he might extend his career to the next edition on the Gold Coast in April 2018.

"To come out here next season, to really train as hard as I need to get to the level I need to win, it's not going to happen," Bolt told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.

Bolt will lead an international team of "All Stars" in the Nitro Athletics series in the Australian city against four other teams representing England, China, New Zealand and Japan.

The first meeting is on Saturday, with a further two on Feb. 9 and 11.

Gold medalist Usain Bolt (JAM) of Jamaica bites his medal. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

"It is going to be great, going to be something different. Like cricket and Twenty20, it's going to be different," Bolt added. "I feel it will catch on -- it's going to bring a lot of excitement to the sport.

"It is going to be something different, not going to be normal -- a lot more exciting. I feel personally it is a great idea. This is why I am a part of it."

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by John O'Brien)

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