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| Jamaica's Usain Bolt, stands together with his team mates after he injured himself during the 4x100 m relay final during the World Athletics Championships in London.
Usain Bolt's dramatic and inglorious end to his top level career was the
fault of world championship organisers, his furious team-mates claimed.
The 30-year-old 100 metres and 200m world record-holder collapsed on the
London Stadium track whilst anchoring Jamaica in the final of the 4x100m on
Saturday as cramp gripped his leg.
Bolt lay prone on the track but waved away the offer of a wheelchair and
eventually, aided by his three team-mates, limped across the line before making
a hasty exit not the way the man who had won triple Olympic gold at the same
stadium in 2012 would have wished his competitive career in championships to
finish.
But his team-mates complained that his problem was caused by organisers
keeping the relay teams waiting in the cold before their race as several medal
ceremonies were held.
"I think they were holding us too long in the call room. The walk
was too long. Usain was really cold. In fact Usain said to me, 'Yohan, I think
this is crazy. 40 minutes and two medal presentations before our run',"
said Yohan Blake, who branded the wait as "crazy".
"We kept warming up and waiting, then warming up and waiting,"
added the 2011 100m world champion, who also won Olympic relay gold in 2012 and
2016 with Bolt.
"I think it got the better of us. We were over warm.
"To see a true legend, true champions go out there and struggling
like that.
"The race was 10 minutes late and we were kept 40 minutes."
Bolt may not have led Jamaica to a glorious finale anyway, though, as he
took the baton well behind eventual winners Great Britain and the US.
But Jamaica's 110m hurdles world champion Omar McLeod who ran the first
leg likewise pointed the finger at organisers for denying his country's
greatest star a more fitting swansong.
"It's heart wrenching," said McLeod, who is also the Olympic
champion.
"It was ridiculous man, we were there around 45 minutes waiting
outside, I think they had three medal ceremonies before we went out so we were
really trying our hardest to stay warm and keep upbeat.
"But it was ridiculous. We waited a really long time. I drank like
two bottles of water."
Their criticism echoed that of Justin Gatlin, who led an American 1-2
alongside team-mate Christian Coleman to deny Bolt a farewell gold in the
individual 100m.
"I think it was the elements. I am sorry he got this injury. He is
still the best in the world," said Gatlin.
"It was a recipe. I don't want to say this, I understand we need to
be ready early, but I think we took our clothes off a little too early.
"It's a little chilly in here so I think that's where the cramp
came from. That's what he suffered with. He was running out there cold."
Despite his relatively unsuccessful
championships in which he will exit with just a single bronze medal Bolt will
still be accorded a final lap of honour in a tribute ceremony before the
curtain comes down on the world championships later on Sunday.
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