Jamaican athlete Oral Thompson squashes talk of Bolt and Powell being bitter rivals
Jamaican athlete Oral Thompson squashes talk of Bolt and Powell being bitter rivals
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That Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell are fierce rivals is a known fact. What is not known is that these two are pretty thick mates.
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| Too Cool: Usain Bolt (left) is a funny guy, while Asafa Powell doesn't show much emotion. pic/AFP |
This classified information came through when one bumped into a certain Oral Thompson at the Games Village.
Thompson, who is part of Jamaica's track and field entourage, is a 400m runner and shares a close bond with the two sprint greats ufffd Bolt and Powell.
Busy
"I used to train with them before, but not now. They are too busy jet-setting these days," Thompson told MiD DAY.u00a0u00a0
"When I trained with them, it was great fun. They are such cool, fun-loving guys. In fact, Asafa encouraged me so much. He used to tell me 'you are the best 400m sprinter in Jamaica, so go out there and have fun.' As for Usain, he'd simply tell me 'I'll beat you if you don't run fast.' They were like that. It was their way of encouraging me," revealed Thompson.u00a0 Throwing some more light on their personalities, he said: "Asafa is a bit quiet. He doesn't talk much, but he is very helpful. Usain is more outgoing and is a very, very funny guy."
So what about the famed Bolt-Powell rivalry? "They don't even think on those lines. In fact, they don't even react to such talk. They are very good friends and they respect each other. There is no rift between them," Thompson said.
Thompson misses all those training sessions with his mates, but he certainly is not missing them at the Games.
"We have a good team with some brilliant athletes. So, even if Asafa and Usain are not here, we have enough firepower in our team to win a rich haul of track and field medals. Of course, it would have been really good if they were here," he said.
For now, it is official: There is no rift between Bolt and Powell.
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