I don’t agree with sprints sensation Usain Bolt’s decision to compete in the long jump. I agree that with his incredible speed he would make a marvelous long jumper and even triple jumper if he so desires but I am afraid this would affect his speed on the tracks.

It is true that many great sprinters like the legendary Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis brilliantly combined the sprints with the long jump but the fact is they could not run as fast as Bolt because the jumps had adverse effect on their calves.

Admittedly, I am venturing into an unfamiliar territory that is the field of medicine but I have quite a sizeable number of medical doctor friends who agree with my theory that long jump could have adverse effect on sprinters.

In fact my case study was former Ghana international star Mike Ahey who won Commonwealth Games long jump gold medal at the Perth Games in 1962 and was a useful member of the sprints quartet. He also did both the 100 yards and the 220 yards of old. And he did complain of pains in the calf after the jumps.

You could deduce that Ahey could have been much faster on the tracks if he had abandoned the long jump. The same goes to Carl Lewis who was stretched to his elastic limit by drug soaked Ben Johnson in the 100 metres final at the 1988 Seoul Olympics after he had collected the long jump gold.

Former Ghanaian female international sprinter Alice Anum also did the long jump in addition to the tracks but with all her speed her best at the Olympics was to run in the Munich Olympics 100 metres final where she was unplaced.

Well with Bolt’s incredible speed and his abundant enthusiasm to set immortal records in the field of athletics, it is possible for him to add a few more events to his repertoire and still break the records but as they say you cannot cheat nature. If he takes on too many events, he may sooner than later find to his chagrin that he is human after all.

I may be wrong though. What do you think?, anyway cheers and keep loving sports.