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I have nothing left to prove: Bolt

Jamaican sprint king will not make U-turn on decision to retire

Jamaican sprint great Usain Bolt says he has no regrets about his decision to retire from athletics this year as he has accomplished everything he wants to in the sport.

Bolt will hang up his spikes following the world championships in London in August, bringing the curtain down on a career that has delivered eight Olympic gold medals.

"I've just done everything I wanted to do in the sport," Bolt said on the red carpet at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Monaco yesterday morning (Singapore time).

"I asked (former US sprinter) Michael Johnson the same question, 'Why did you retire when you were on top?'.

"He said the same - he had done everything he had wanted to do in athletics so there was no reason to stay in the sport. Now I understand what he means."

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

Carter has said he will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The 30-year-old Bolt fired his team of international "All Stars" to victory in the inaugural Nitro Athletics Series in Melbourne last week.

It’s unbelievable what we achieved last season and maybe we are paying something this year. Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri, after receiving the Laureus Spirit of Sport award for the EPL club

He ran his first individual race of the year, burning away from a modest field for an easy win in the 150m sprint.

"I just wanted to run and to be part of it," he said. "I had to take it easy because I wasn't at the level I would usually be. It was the first time I had competed at this time of the year."

Yesterday morning, Bolt won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award for bagging three golds at the Rio Olympics.

Other notable winners include American gymnast Simone Biles (Sportswoman of the Year award), German Formula One driver Nico Rosberg (Breakthrough of the Year award), Michael Phelps (Comeback of the Year award) and Leicester City (Spirit of Sport award). - REUTERS

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