Former Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt has come out an announced that he is retired from sport after failing to win a deal with A-League side Central Coast Mariners.
The eight-time Olympic champion expressed that his sports career was over saying “It was fun while it lasted.”
Following his retirement from athletics the Jamaican set his eye on a football career, but at the age of 32 his chances were always going to be slim.
The 100m and 200m world record holder said:
“You live and learn, I feel it was a good experience, I Just really enjoyed being in a team.”
He added, “I don’t want to say it wasn’t dealt with properly, but I think we went about it not the way we should.”
Bolt ended ties with the Mariners, after spending two months training for the team. The Australian outfit were keen to sign a deal with the athlete but couldn’t come to an agreement on the terms of his contract.
The wage demands were the biggest stumbling block as the former Olympian was rumoured to want around £1.6 million paid in a package but only had an offer of £81,000-a-year as the Yellow & Navy could not meet his wage demands.
Even with the club looking at various companies and people to sponsor the sporting icon, the funds weren’t a target that was ever going to be reached.
ESPN stated that only the owner Mike Charlesworth wanted the deal to happen not even the coach of the side Mike Mulvey backed the deal telling Fox Sports,
“Do you think he’ll get in our front three? We’ve got a very good front third.”
Bolt did start in a friendly for the Gosford based club, scoring a brace against Macarthur South West back in October last year.
After ending ties with the A-League side Bolt did get another offer this time from a Maltese side Valletta. However, a familiar stumbling block occurred as the team could not offer the wages the Jamaican demanded.
The former Olympic champion did train with two other clubs in his pursuit to make it into football, he spent time with current Bundesliga table-toppers Borussia Dortmund and Norwegian team Stromsgodset.
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