Bolt wants to be like Mike

World 100m and 200m double record holder Usain Bolt has every intention of going out at the top of his game, somewhat in a similar vein to United States Olympic champion Michael Johnson.

Johnson, a specialist over the 200m and 400m distances, called an end to his career at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, after claiming gold in the men's 400m and the men's 4x400m relay, although the medal was later stripped as two members of the team returned tests for banned substances. At the time of his retirement, Johnson held the world record for both the 200m and 400m events. Bolt would later eclipse the 200m mark of 19.32, but the American's 400m record, 43.18, set in 1999 in Seville, remains unbeaten.

"I asked Michael Johnson why he retired, he said he'd won everything and dominated everything. I want to be that person," he told The Times.

"There are always going to be younger, faster kids coming up, but I enjoy competing against the best and look forward to beating them," he added.

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With the emergence of his younger training partner Yohan Blake, who has gone on to clock times second only to Bolt in both the 100m and 200m, the question of how long the sprinter will dominate the events has already been brought into question. Blake also claimed the 100m title at the 2011 Daegu World Champion-ships, after an anxious Bolt false started in the final.

Bolt will have a chance to take on some of the younger challengers at the Aviva Meeting in Paris on Saturday, where he will face Warren Weir, Christophe Lemaitre, Jason Young and Jimmy Vicaut an entire generation of promising new sprinters. Bolt looks forward to the challenge.

"This is my chance to compete against younger athletes and also a fully fit Tyson, because he's been injured a lot before and now he's in great shape."

Michael Johnson

File

Usain Bolt

"This is my chance to compete against younger athletes and also a fully fit Tyson."