Eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt has said that it is “too late” for a comeback but admits he has “got that itch” for a dramatic return to the sport.
The Jamaican, 35, ended his glittering track and field career in 2017.
He said he was tempted by a possible return for the Tokyo Games, but his coach persuaded him otherwise.
“It’s too late. If I was going to come back it would have been to be for this Olympics,” he told BBC Sport’s Ade Adedoyin.
“When I told my coach I was going to retire he sat me down and said ‘when you retire that’s it. I’m not doing any comeback tours, nothing. So make sure you are ready to retire’.
“I remember I went to him in 2019 and said ‘what do you think about coming back for the Olympics?’ And he looked at me and said ‘don’t even start’.
“So if it’s not my coach, I’m not going to do it, because I believe in him and if he says no, it’s no – but I’ve got that itch though.”
Bolt also believes the rivalry between female Jamaican sprinters Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah could lead to one of them breaking the 100m and 200m world records, set by American Florence Griffith Joyner in 1988.
Thompson-Herah successfully defended her 100m and 200m Olympic titles in Tokyo and took her 100m personal best down to 10.54 in Eugene last month – just 0.05 seconds short of Griffith Joyner’s record of 10.49.
