5 Sep 2013

Usain Bolt may retire after Rio

5:44 am on 5 September 2013

Jamaican track superstar Usain Bolt says he's considering retiring after the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, at the age of 30.

Any retirement for Bolt would likely come after three more years of domination that might include a pop at the Commonwealth Games next year and another shot at bettering his own 200 metres world record.

Bolt has dominated the competitive world of sprinting since claiming three gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games but is hinting that Rio would be his third and last.

Talking ahead of this weekend's season-ending Diamond League meet in Brussels, Bolt says retiring when he's still on top of his career seems a good idea.

The six-time Olympic gold medallist says he can't afford an off-season if he wants to continue to dominate on the track and this hasn't been a perfect season for him - he won "but it was not in a Usain Bolt fashion".

The 27-year-old Jamaican still claimed a treble gold at last month's world championships, taking his world gold medal haul to eight, and Bolt's hinting bettering his own world record of 19.19 seconds in his favoured event, the 200, could be on the cards as well.

He says beating he 100 world record is the hardest because it is more technical while in the 200, if he can master the bend and stay injury free, there is room for improvement.