RIO DE JANEIRO — The health of Usain Bolt has been a question as the showman enters his final Olympics nursing a sore hamstring.
His parents paid him a brief visit in the athletes village and insisted Friday he’s ready to run and defend his gold medals.
Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt both inquired about their son’s health in their Thursday night visit with the sprinter. Bolt pulled out of his national championships last month because of the hamstring injury, but has insisted he’s fine to compete in Brazil.
“He said ‘Mom, if I wasn’t ready, I wouldn’t be here because I’m not into the losing thing. I’m ready,”‘ said Jennifer Bolt.
Bolt is trying to win the 100, 200 and 4×100 relay – just like the last two Olympics – to close his career with nine gold medals. The 100-meter final is Sunday and Bolt races in his first heat the day before.
The Bolts spoke to a small group of reporters during a news conference, giving anecdotes from Bolt’s childhood and discussing his rise into a global superstar.
A BRAZILIAN swimmer has filed a police report after receiving hateful messages on social media.
Rio de Janeiro police are investigating Facebook users who wrote offensive messages on a photo shared by swimmer Joanna Maranhao after she failed to qualify for the 200-meter individual medley final.
Maranhao went to the police station on Friday and said the comments wishing she was raped were hurtful. The 29-year-old swimmer initially expressed her anger in an interview on Tuesday after the 200-meter butterfly.
Discriminatory posts are investigated by special internet crime units in Brazil and users can be punished for defamation, slander or injury.
A CHINESE swimmer, a Polish weightlifter and a Bulgarian steeplechaser were expelled or suspended Friday for doping, the first athletes sanctioned after failing drug tests at the games.
Weightlifter Tomasz Zielinksi and steeplechaser Silvia Danekova were kicked out of the games after testing positive for banned substances, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said.
Swimmer Chen Xinyi accepted a “provisional suspension” after testing positive for a diuretic.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
