Usain Bolt to track the crowd in Nitro Athletics in Melbourne

As an expected sellout Melbourne crowd takes in the world’s fastest man, his eyes will be on the crowd.

Usain Bolt is the star of the Nitro athletics series in Melbourne. Picture: Andrew Tauber

An expected sellout Australian crowd will have all eyes on the fastest man in history Usain Bolt at tomorrow night’s opening Nitro Athletics event in Melbourne, but the eight-time Olympic gold medallist’s eyes will be on the crowd.

Bolt is so convinced that the innovative and action-packed Nitro series will be a success that he has taken a commercial stake in the concept and he said today he would be watching the reaction of the crowd closely.

“I really want to see the turnout and see just the vibe that Nitro brings and show the people that track and field is going in a different direction and we want to make it more exciting, so I’m looking forward to seeing the crowd reaction to what we are doing,’’ he said.

Bolt and Athletics Australia, who are partners in the event, want to develop the concept into a global series after it debuts in Melbourne over the next week.

This will be Australia’s last chance to see 30-year-old Bolt run live as he intends to retire after the world championships in London in August.

He flirted briefly with the notion of extending his career to take in the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April next year but has confirmed in the past 24 hours that he will finish after London.

“I was really thinking about it but just going through the season and remembering last season, I just know I won’t have the motivation for one more season,’’ he said.

However he said he might still be a face in the crowd at the Gold Coast.

“Even if I am not an ambassador (for the Games), I will be here because as you guys know I love Australia so I will come and watch the Commonwealth Games,’’ he said.

He is most likely to run a leg of the 4 X 100m relay for his Bolt All Stars team tomorrow, although due to the strategic nature of the team event, the six teams will not reveal their individual entries until tomorrow.

Bolt has previously raised the tantalising prospect that he would turn out in the long jump for the first time in his decorated senior career, and he did not rule it out yesterday, but it seems unlikely.

He said the final decision would be left to his longstanding coach Glen Mills.

“I would love to long jump but the coach makes the calls,’’ he said. “Let’s see what happens.’’

Bolt will captain the All Stars, which include two of his Olympic gold medal relay teammates Asafa Powell and Michael Frater, against teams from Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan and England.

The young Australian team is weaker in the sprint events but team captains Ryan Gregson and Genevieve LaCaze believe it is stronger across the board, and particularly in the distance events where the two Olympic finalists excel, so they are aiming to win the inaugural Nitro title.