A major sponsor may hold the key to securing the appearance of Usain Bolt at 2018 Commonwealth Games

MOVES are afoot to have Usain Bolt run at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018, with a sponsor key to securing the world’s fastest man.

There are plans to get Usain Bolt to the Commonwealth Games. Photo: AP Photo/David Goldman)

MOVES are afoot to have Usain Bolt run at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018.

Bolt has said that next year’s world championships in London will be his last competition before retirement but it is understood the Commonwealth Games Federation and a private sponsor — believed to be Optus — will put a proposal to him to compete in some capacity at the Gold Coast.

Bolt’s involvement at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 was secured when one of his major sponsors, Virgin Media, became a “participating partner” of the Games.

It is hoped that Optus will play a similar role in bringing the three-time Olympic 100m champion to the Gold Coast.

Gold Coast Commonwealth Games chairman Peter Beattie would not confirm the details of any private sponsorship deal but said Games organisers would do whatever they could to entice Bolt to run at the event.

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Usain Bolt celebrates winning gold in the men’s relay. Photo: Photo/Martin Meissner

“Obviously we would love to have him come,” he said. “He is a magnificent athlete and a wonderful showman.

“The great thing is he is not only the best athlete at the Olympics, he is also the best athlete in the Commonwealth and that gives us a great opportunity.

“If he came to the Coast he would add a whole element of excitement to the Games and we will do everything we can to make that happen.”

While there has been talk of Bolt being linked to Games as an “ambassador” Beattie said the main priority would be to have him compete.

“We want him to run,” he said. “Everyone wants to say they saw Usain Bolt run. It is a once in a lifetime thing.”

At the Glasgow Games Bolt’s entire athletic involvement was running the final leg of the 4x100m relay, but it elevated the event from the mundane to the memorable.

From dancing to the sounds of Scottish band The Proclaimers’ hit “I’m Gonna Be (500 miles)” before the start of the race to embarking on a 45 minutes lap of honour in a tartan Tam O’Shanter and scarf after it, Bolt had the crowd in raptures.

At one point he wore a cardboard “Bolt mask” borrowed from a spectator and must have given 500 high-fives and posed for at least double that number of selfies.

Usain Bolt has run his last Olympics race. Photo: Brett Costello

It is that sort of crowd interaction, plus athletic mastery — in only his second run of the year and on six weeks’ preparation following a knee injury, Bolt came from slightly behind England’s Danny Talbot to win by eight metres in Games record time — that Commonwealth Games organisers are desperate to bring to the Gold Coast.

So much so, they are already featuring vision of Bolt in action at Glasgow as part of their marketing campaign.

Should the Gold Coast organising committee succeed in their bid to convince Bolt to put plans for retirement on the backburner, the obvious next move would be for the backers of the 2020 Olympics to encourage him to further cement his legacy with an unprecedented fourth 100m title in Tokyo.

Given that he will be three weeks shy of his 34th birthday when the Tokyo 100m is run — younger than world champion Justin Gatlin when he finished second behind Bolt in Rio — it would see feasible that he would continue, especially as he has been carefully handled throughout his career, running minimal events outside the major competitions.

As Peter Beattie said of Bolt’s chances of running at the Gold Coast: “The good thing is, it’s only two years away and the way he has looked in Rio you wouldn’t put anything past him.”

Originally published as A major sponsor may hold the key to securing the appearance of Usain Bolt at 2018 Commonwealth Games