Olympic great Usain Bolt may consider tackling the long jump as part of his involvement in the new Nitro Athletics series.
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Bolt has been unveiled as the star attraction of the experimental competition, which will see six teams, consisting of 24 athletes each, contest a mix of track and field events in Melbourne in February, with a hurdles relay among the proposed non-traditional features.
Speaking at a news conference to announce the concept, Athletics Australia director John Steffensen, a 4x400 metre silver medal winner at the Athens Olympics in 2004, tried to tempt the Jamaican superstar to move outside of his comfort zone.
Steffensen said: "So are you trying to tell me if your team say: 'Usain, We need you to do the long jump. Can you do the long jump?' Are you going to long jump?"
And Bolt, a nine-time Olympic gold medal winner across the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, indicated he might well take up the suggestion in his capacity as a captain-coach.
"I'm a team player you guys, I'm a team player, John. I'm a team player, I'm about winning," he said.
"That would be cool because as I said, it's a team event and I can do what I want and it will be fun.
"I think I'm at that point in my career where I don't have to stress too much about "if" I do long jump because my coaches don't want me to do it, but now I actually can. So it will be fun to do different things."