Yohan Blake to retire from track and field after 2024 Olympics

Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake says he will hang up his spikes after next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

The 33 year year old who won the 100m gold at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea in 2011 after Usain Bolt was sent off for false starting says he is tired.

He was the youngest sprinter in history to win the 100m gold in the history of the Championships. That victory which many believed was made possible after Bolt’s exit remains the high-point of his career.

“Doing the 200, 100 and relays simply takes a lot out of you, so these are the events I want to focus on,” he said.
“Paris 2024 should be my last dance.”

Blake would be wishing for a miracle of sort to be crowned as Olympic champion in an individual event after picking up a pair of silver medals at the London 2012 Olympics behind Bolt.

His times of 9.75sec in 100m and 19.44 in 200m are the fastest 100m and 200m Olympic sprints in history to not win the gold medal.

Blake has however won two Olympic gold medals as part of Jamaica’s 4x100m relay teams at London 2012 and Rio 2016, setting a world record (36.84) in the former.

The Jamaican failed to reach the final last year at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

He placed fourth (10.12) at the semifinal stage in the 100m and did not start his 200m semifinal race.