SEOUL, Korea, September 10 – Triple Olympic and world sprint champion Usain Bolt has pulled out of the Daegu Pre-Championship Meeting in South Korea this month citing fatigue, organisers say.
The Jamaican superstar’s withdrawal means he is also likely to miss the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix which takes place five days earlier.
"Bolt’s agent on Wednesday informed us that he cannot take part in the competition in Daegu due to his not-good physical condition," said an official from the Daegu organising body.
"We feel really sorry not to have him at the competition given the huge publicity effect he can bring to any athletic event."
Bolt, who broke his own 100m world record by clocking 9.58 seconds at the World Championships in Berlin last month, had reportedly been offered 500,000 US dollars to show up in Korea.
He is due to run the 200 metres at the World Athletics Final in Greece this weekend, which is likely to wind up his long season.
Moon Dong-hoo, vice president of the organising committee for the 2011 Daegu World Championships, told Yonhap he expected Bolt to also skip Shanghai.
"It is expected that Bolt will also pull out of the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix to be held starting September 20. Bolts absence is expected to have a huge effect on the public interest in the Pre-Championship Meeting," he said.
Korean media said organisers were now targeting Bolt’s key rivals, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay, to take part.
The final list of some 200 athletes for Daegu is set to be released next week.
