Organizers say Usain Bolt to skip Rome Diamond League meet with injury
ROME -- Golden Gala organizers announced Monday that Usain Bolt will skip the Rome Diamond League meet on June 5, citing reported injury problems.
However, Bolt's manager Ricky Simms told The Associated Press that the 100- and 200-meter record holder didn't have a contract to run the Rome meet and that he is "not aware of any problems."
"We were warned a few days ago about Bolt's problems," Rome meet director Luigi D'Onofrio said in a statement. "Then the confirmation came: Bolt will skip the Rome stop of the Diamond League, the first meet he had decided to compete in. Obviously we're disappointed."
Simms said Bolt will make his European season debut in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on June 17, then run the Paris Diamond League meet on July 5 and in Malmo, Sweden, on Aug. 5.
"We will announce more meetings in the coming weeks," Simms wrote in an email.
Bolt had a rare 100-meter loss in Rome last year, when American sprinter Justin Gatlin beat him by one-hundredth of a second.
Bolt won the 100 in Rome in 2011 and 2012.
