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Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Molly Florence beats Usain Bolt out of blocks

Gary Hamilton-Irvine
Rotorua Daily Post·
8 Oct, 2012 06:57 PM3 mins to read

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Not many people can say they've beaten Usain Bolt out of the blocks but that's something Rotorua's Molly Florence will never forget.

Molly (pictured right), a rising athletics star, got the chance to train with the world's fastest man at a special coaching clinic in Auckland yesterday.

The 16-year-old said the best part of the day was lining up right next to her sporting idol on the starting blocks.

"He said he was going about 60 per cent and I actually beat him out of the blocks.

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"It was the best training session of my life, I will never forget it. I'm still buzzing."

The John Paul College student was one of eight Kiwi track and field athletes, considered rising sporting stars, selected for the special coaching clinic with Bolt.

"He was mainly analysing my start and told me I had good posture."

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Molly said Bolt had even told her if she wanted to get better she needed to grow taller.

"I had a really good chat with him. We talked a bit about the Rio Olympics and I told him I would see him there."

Molly said she had been looking forward to meeting Bolt for a long time and even his exit had been memorable, leaving the stadium in a helicopter.

Molly's mother, Rosie Florence told The Daily Post last week that her daughter idolised Bolt so much she had a life-sized cardboard cut-out of him in her bedroom.

Her mum said Molly wrote to the manager of Countdown to see if she could have the life-sized cutout of Bolt, which had been on display in the store, when they had finished with it.

It stands proudly in Molly's bedroom, she said.

Athletics New Zealand and Gatorade joined forces to host the training clinic at AUT Millennium on the North Shore.

Athletics New Zealand chief executive Scott Newman said they had selected some of the country's leading sprinters to take part in yesterday's coaching clinic with Bolt.

The Jamaican sprinter is widely regarded as the faster person ever and has been running since he began school, going on to win three gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and three in the London Olympics this year, including one team relay gold in which he broke the world record for his time.

"It's rare to have the chance to get close to such a world-class athlete ... those involved will benefit greatly from the experience," Mr Newman said.

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