PARIS: Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt (pictured) has been signed up to run the 200m at the Diamond League meeting in Paris in July, organisers said yesterday.
“With Bolt, we know that we will easily fill the Stade de France.” said the head of the meeting, Laurent Boquillet, adding that organisers had shelled out $300,000 (229,000 euros) to bring the Jamaican track king to the French capital on July 6.
Bolt, 26, won 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay gold at last year’s Olympics in London, repeating the feat that he first achieved in Beijing four years earlier and cementing his reputation as the greatest sprinter of all time.
Boquillet said the fee was standard for a runner of Bolt’s calibre, pointing out that before his Olympic triple feat last year, he was available for $250,000 per meeting.
The Paris Diamond league meeting is the ninth on the main athletics circuit.
Jus recently, Bolt said he was shocked by the news that fellow Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius had been charged with the shooting death of his model girlfriend.
Bolt was one of the stars at the Olympic Games in London, along with Britain’s Mo Farah.
Farah, who won the two gold Olympic gold medals recently won the New Orleans half marathon in a course record of one hour 59 seconds.
Farah has said he will be running half the London marathon in April 2013. AGENCIES
