Athletics: Bolt sacrifices fast food to extend career

Usain Bolt. Photo / AP

Jamaican track star Usain Bolt has admitted to sacrificing fast food in a bid to extend his stellar sprinting career.

In an interview with the IAAF Inside Athletics program released on Tuesday, Bolt said curbing off-track activities as the years rolled by had been easy compared to having to watch his diet.

"I've cut back on a lot of things," said the 28-year-old six-time Olympic gold medallist who had a growing reputation in his younger years for liking the nightlife and, famously, eating chicken nuggets.

"When I really realised I was getting older was last season when I got injured."

He said working his way back to fitness was a much greater struggle than when he was younger.

"Now it takes time for me to get going and I need a lot more races.

"I've noticed that I have to be very careful and I just have to be aware of everything around me and make sure I'm on point.

"I've started eating healthy. That's the hardest thing for me right now is the sacrifices, eating vegetables all the time.

"Everything else is easy to give up, but eating healthy is really hard!"

Bolt, who has been struggling with a pelvic injury, but is slated to compete at the Diamond League meet in London on Friday, made no mention in the program about next month's world championships in Beijing.

But he did talk about what will be his third Olympic Games, in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, insisting he felt no pressure from the weight of expectation of a public who have seen him win an unprecedented double-treble gold haul.

"I want the best for myself. That's the way I look at it to try not to feel pressure," Bolt said.

"I focus on what's necessary and what I want out of it and work towards that."

-AAP