Former Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt opens up on dream of playing football

Johannesburg: Former Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who recently joined A-League Club Central Coast Mariners to pursue his dream of playing football, has said that instead of being treated as world's fastest man, he would like to be known as a footballer.

The 31-year-old, who had confirmed in February that he is all set to switch from track to field, further asserted that he would prove all his critics wrong by performing well on the football ground.

"I don't want to be treated as the world's fastest man, I want to be treated as a footballer because that's what I want to be," goal.com quoted Bolt, as saying.

"People will say a lot of things about me, but I'll prove them wrong," he added.

Reflecting on his preparation for the game, Bolt said that he is working hard to improve, adding that as long as he manages to maintain his body fitness nothing is impossible to achieve for him.

"I'm not setting myself any targets . I'm just going to put in the work. I don't know what to expect so I'm just here to push myself, learn as much as possible. For me it's a blank slate. I'm here to learn and get better, that's my focus. As long as you get fit in football it's relatively easy. That's how I look at it, I don't know yet," he said.

Earlier, the sprinter had also joined German football club Borussia Dortmund in his build-up to give football a serious try.

The eight-time Olympic Gold winner, who holds the world record for 100m (9.58 seconds), 200m (19.19 seconds) and 4x100m relay (36.84 seconds) events, besides having 11 World Championship titles to his name, he retired from athletics following the 2017 World Championships.