Usain Bolt plans to defend all three Olympic sprint titles

Zurich: What’s left for a man who has won three Olympic sprint titles back-to-back? Win all three again, of course.

Usain Bolt on Wednesday said he is planning to defend his 100, 200 and 4x100 metre relay golds at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.

“To actually go to Rio and win again would be a feat in itself,” said Bolt, speaking ahead of the Weltklasse Diamond League meeting in Zurich.

The Jamaican will run in the 100 metre on Thursday after a world championship sweep of the sprints in Moscow, where he talked of working hard to attain “the greatness thing.”

Most would say he’s achieved that already.

He completed for the same triple at the Olympic Games in Beijing and London.

“For me, the key thing is just to go to defend my titles, and that’s my focus,” Bolt said. “It would be the first time anybody has ever won three times in a row.”

Bolt became the most decorated athlete in world championships history this month, with his career tally of eight golds and two silvers lifting him above American great Carl Lewis.

Three more golds for Bolt in Rio would still leave him trailing Lewis’ Olympic track and field record of nine golds and one silver.

“I won’t be adding a fourth event in Rio, for sure,” said the 27-year-old Bolt, whose 34th birthday could fall during the 2020 Summer Games.

Bolt’s news conference was held at Fifa headquarters, across the city from the stadium where he will run Thursday.

Bolt was greeted on arrival by Fifa President Sepp Blatter, and later accepted a blue Fifa football shirt bearing his name and the No. 9.

Blatter joked that nine seconds was probably the limit for Bolt, whose 100 world record set in 2009 stands at 9.58.

Bolt suggested he was capable of running in the 9.70s at Weltklasse, where a warm, still evening was forecast.

“I have gotten a lot of rest,” said Bolt, who last year in cool, wet conditions set a Weltklasse meet record of 19.66 in the 200. “This track is always a fast track and I’ve run some fast times here.”

He ran a season’s-best 9.77 in Moscow and rivals on Thursday included worlds runner-up Justin Gatlin of the United States and Jamaican bronze medalist Nesta Carter.

Meanwhile, Fifa president Joseph Blatter has invited sprint sensation Usain Bolt to Brazil to witness football’s biggest showpiece, the 2014 world Cup.

Blatter issued the invitation during a visit by Bolt to football’s headquarters on Wednesday ahead of the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Zürich Thursday evening at the Letzigrund Stadium in Switzerland.

“For years, he has dominated speed events,” said the Fifa President.

“I’m very proud that this great gentleman is here. He also showed again recently that the 4x100m is very important to him, which proves that he is a team player, just like in football.”

The world’s top football executive presented the fastest man on the planet with a number of gifts including a ticket to Brazil, a shiny Fifa pennant, a fluffy World Cup 2014 mascot and a shirt with the athlete’s name printed on the back.

Bolt who recently turned 27 said he was pleased to visit the Home of Fifa for the first time.

“For me, it’s an honour to be here,” he said.

“I follow football and today I saw the World Cup Trophy for the first time.”

Bolt became the top medal winner in World Championships Athletics history after claiming 10 medals, eight gold and two silver.