sports today • Monday 29 July 201338

Mike Gradysports@mediacorp.com.sg

LONDON — When Usain Bolt stepped into the London Olympic Stadium on Friday night, he felt something he had not felt in a long time — nerves.

Returning to the venue where he won three gold medals just one year ago, Bolt admitted that the reaction he received from the crowd came as a complete shock.

“I wasn’t actually nervous before I got to London, it was when I got out (in the stadium) and the reception I got when I felt the nerves coming on,” said the PUMA-sponsored athlete in an exclusive interview with TODAY.

“I didn’t expect the amount of en-ergy to be the same as it was for the Olympics, so it caught me by surprise ... I got a little bit of nerves. It was good nerves, though. I was just hap-py and it felt so wonderful to be back in the stadium.”

After a turbulent week for athlet-ics, Bolt feels that the London Anni-versary Games helped “the world forget about what happened”.

With Tyson Gay and fellow-Ja-maican Asafa Powell — the second and fourth fastest men of all time — under investigation for doping, having a major event to remind fans about the quality of the sport was crucial.

“I feel I’ve got a duty to help the sport,” said the six-time Olympic champion. “I try my best to prove to the world that it can be done; to run clean and run fast and I’ll continue doing that until I retire.”

Bolt now turns his attention to the World Championships in Mos-cow next month, where he will face a weakened line-up in the main event.

With Gay, Powell and the injured Yo-han Blake all ruled out, the star at-traction has dimmed somewhat.

However, the 26-year-old has called on some of his younger rivals to make the most of the opportunity.

“The fact that so many athletes are out is a good chance for a lot of young athletes to show up and get to the podium. It should be interest-ing to see who will step up and who wants it the most because it’s pretty wide open.”

Bolt admitted that he is excited about the World Championships and feels he always performs better at the biennial competition.

“This year I want to break my World Record. My best performanc-es are always at the World Cham-pionships, so I’m aiming to go out there and run my best. I live for big moments.

“I try to work as hard as possible when the championships are com-ing around and push myself to the

limit. If you want to be a champion, you’ve got to work hard and stay on top because a lot of people are gun-ning for you.”

The World Championships could hold some bad memories for Bolt af-ter his false start in Daegu two years ago, but he insists that he has put it behind him.

“I’m past that, from the next day I was over it,” he said. “I figured out what I did wrong and just moved past it. I learned from that mistake and I won’t make that mistake again.”

After his “horrific” start in the 100m at the London Anniversary Games on Friday night, Bolt admits there is a fine line between starting too quickly and too slowly.

“I’ve sat down with my coach and he told me he was happy. He ex-plained to me that the slow start was probably just the workload and my legs just aren’t free enough. For the next two weeks we’ll be toning down and my legs will feel lighter. He has a plan, so I’m good.”

One event Bolt will be missing out on this summer is his friend Rio Fer-dinand’s testimonial match at Old Trafford. The Manchester United fan was invited to play by Ferdinand, but his involvement in the World Championships has ruled him out.

“I wish that I was going to play, but hopefully next summer when there are no Championships some-thing will happen.”

Bolt takes aim at world record

today EXCluSIVE

Hamilton masters Hungaroring againBUDAPEST — Lewis Hamilton (picture) won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday to clinch his first victory of a frustrating season.

Kimi Raikkonen was second af-ter holding off a strong late chal-lenge from Sebastian Vettel, who was third ahead of Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber.

Hamilton’s first year with Mer-cedes has been tricky and he came into the race with low expectations of victory despite securing his fourth pole this season.

“This is probably one of the most important Grand Prix wins of my

career,” Hamilton said. “The guys have done an exceptional job, I re-ally couldn’t be happier. I hope there are many more to come.”

He managed his tyres wisely to get the 22nd GP win of his career and the first since the United States GP last November. Prior to Hungary, he had been third three times.

Hamilton remains fourth overall but likely too far behind to mount a serious title challenge as the season takes its mid-season summer break. Leader Vettel has 172 points, 38 clear of Raikkonen and 39 ahead of Fer-rari driver Fernando Alonso. Ham-

ilton has 124, some 48 points adrift of Vettel.

As he approached the finish line, Hamilton waved. After he won, he kissed his Mercedes and then hugged team boss Ross Brawn. When he raised the winner’s trophy, Hamil-ton looked emotional as he pointed to members of his team to share the moment with them.

During the race, the British driv-er was in no mood for compromise, barking back at an engineer over the race radio “Hey man, I’m trying to drive here. I’m happy with the way the car is” when he received some advice inside the last 10 laps.

His team-mate Nico Rosberg, who had split the past four GP wins with Vettel, had to abandon right near the end with flames billowing from the back of his car. He was unhurt.

Vettel has four wins overall, hav-ing won at the German GP three weeks ago. He tried desperately to get past Raikkonen and they almost collided on the penultimate lap as the Finn blocked his move.

“I had no doubt that I could keep him out,” Raikkonen said. “Every-thing worked well for us.” AP

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)2. kimi raikkonen (Lotus)3. Sebastian Vettel (red Bull)4. Mark Webber (red Bull)5. Fernando alonso (Ferrari)6. romain Grosjean (Lotus)7. Jenson Button (McLaren)8. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)9. Sergio Perez (McLaren)10. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)

Drivers’172 Vettel 134 raikkonen 133 alonso 124 Hamilton 105 Webber 84 rosberg 61 Massa 49 Grosjean 39 Button 36 di resta

Constructors’277 red Bull 208 Mercedes 194 Ferrari 183 Lotus 59 Force india 57 McLaren 24 Toro rosso

HUNgAriAN gP rESULTS

TOday special correspondent Mike Grady is a London-based journalist who covers football and Olympic and Para-Sports for various publications. you can follow him on Twitter at @mikegrady87. This exclusive Usain Bolt interview was made possible by PUMa.

PHOTO: GeTTy iMaGeS

Bolt feels that the london anniversary games was crucial for the sport, on the back of the recent doping revelations. PHOTO: PUMa