Jamaica's 'Compatriot' Games - Bolt ready to face Powell in Beijing »

Jamaica's 'Compatriot' Games - Bolt ready to face Powell in Beijing

LONDON (AP):

USAIN BOLT is ready to go up against Asafa Powell in the 100-metre sprint at the Beijing Olympics, even if he hasn't yet decided to run in both that race and the 200. Bolt, who took the world record in the 100 from Powell in May, lost to his Jamaican teammate at that distance on Tuesday in Sweden.

"I'm always ready do anything," Bolt said yesterday, a day before the London Grand Prix opens. "Physically, it's going to be hard on my body, but I've been doing the work preseason and I'm ready to do the double."

Targeting 200m

Ahead of the Beijing Games, the 21-year-old Bolt is still looking to add the world record in the 200 - the race he will run in London tomorrow - to the 9.72-second 100 he ran on May 31 in New York. "It will be a great feeling to get the 200 world record," Bolt said. "It will mean a lot more to me because I've been doing the 200 over the years and I've done a lot of work on it." Bolt said the decision on whether to run both sprints in Beijing would be made at the last moment.

"I've been doing well in both events, I think I may be doing both," Bolt said. "My coach is trying to figure out the technical aspects if I can keep my mind to get everything right and work under pressure running eight rounds." Bolt ran the fastest time in the 200 this year, winning a race last month in Athens, Greece, in 19.67 seconds. The Jamaican is now the fifth fastest man of all time over the distance, but knows breaking the world record of 19.32 is a tough challenge. "Michael Johnson's record has been around pretty much forever and nobody has gotten near it," Bolt said. "It's definitely possible - anything is possible -but it's going to take a lot of work. Hopefully, next year if my coach decides we should go after the world record, we may."

Lone star

Powell will be the lone star today in the 100 at Crystal Palace because world champion Tyson Gay will miss the event while still recovering from the hamstring injury he picked up at the United States trials last month. But the 25-year-old Powell, who has shaken off injuries earlier in the year, won't be any less competitive as he tries to recapture the 100 record in Beijing and win his first Olympic title.

"I'm the only one who can defeat myself," said Powell, who edged Bolt by one-hundredth of a second on Tuesday, winning in 9.88. "I don't need to think about anyone else's race that I can't control. "It would have been a lot more exciting if Tyson was here for the fans, but for me it is no different. I'm going out there to compete. The other day in Stockholm I wasn't focusing on Usain, I was thinking about myself."

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