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Bolt: I'm OK
Olympic hero escapes serious injury in car crash
By Kayon Raynor, Observer senior reporter raynork@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, April 30, 2009
WORLD 100 and 200-metre record holder Usain Bolt outran serious injury and possibly death yesterday but wrote off his $15.3-million 2009 BMW M3 Coupe on the Vineyard Toll section of Highway 2000 in St Catherine.
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| A wrecker pulls Bolt's ill-fated BMW from the ditch. (Bottom right) The interior of the car after the crash. (Photos: Bryan Cummings) |
The triple Olympic gold medallist, who sustained only minor injuries to the ball of his feet, caused by thorns when leaving the ill-fated car, was released from the Spanish Town Hospital after some three hours of examination by doctors. He shortly after declared himself in "good" health.
"Mi good man. Mi alright, a just few cuts man, mi alright," Bolt assured the Observer prior to boarding another of his three cars, a 2003 Honda Euro R motor car, and driven away by a friend shortly after 5:00 pm. Both of the 22-year-old sprinter's feet were strapped with bandages.
Reports are that the two female passengers, who were travelling with Bolt, also escaped major injury.
News of the accident spread like wildfire across the island, with Jamaicans anxiously enquiring after the condition of the Olympic hero. He was visited at the hospital by family members including his younger brother, Sadiki, an aunt and cousins, as well as close friend, Mizicann Evans.
Bolt's manager Norman Peart confirmed that the lanky sprinter had escaped serious injury.
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| Triple Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt speaks to journalists following his release from the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine where he was taken for treatment for injuries he received in a car crash on the Vineyard Toll section of Highway 2000 in the parish yesterday. |
"No injuries. Basically after the accident he came out of the vehicle and stepped on some thorns and a few of them got stuck in his toes, so that's about it for him," Peart told the Observer. "It's just a few superficial laceration on his toes. But, of course, we'll have to do further checks later to make sure he's completely fine," added the manager.
The 2008 IAAF Sportsman of the year had been travelling into Kingston from the direction of May Pen, Clarendon with two female friends shortly after 1:00 pm, when the accident occurred, approximately 500 metres from the toll plaza. The road was slippery from afternoon showers.
Investigating officer, Sergeant David Sheriff of the Old Harbour Police station told the Observer that the accident was caused due to the wet road surface.
"It was raining and it (the car) seemed to have skidded off the road," Sheriff said. We have no indication to say that (he was speeding)," the police sergeant added.
When this reporter arrived at the scene at approximately 2:30 pm, the BMW car was being towed from the ditch by a Highway 2000 wrecker crew. No trace of blood was spotted inside the car and no airbags had been visibly deployed.
The Glen Mills-coached sprinter, who took the world by storm at last summer's Beijing Olympics by winning the 100m and 200m in world record times of 9.69 and 19.30 seconds respectively, and shared in the 4x100m relay world record run of 37.10secs, did not explain what caused the accident.
But the condition of the car told the story. Both front tyres were punctured and the left-front wheel was almost torn off. The front windscreen was shattered while the back windscreen was totally dislodged. There were tyre marks for about 50 metres before the car came off the road, said a member of the wrecker crew who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak.
Bolt, who also owns a 2002 Honda Torneo, received the stylish black, three-door, six-speed 2009 BMW Coupe from his sponsor sportswear manufacturing company PUMA as a birthday present after his Olympic exploits.
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