Sprint Champion Bolt Plans Sydney Training Session With NRL Star Hayne
Usain Bolt said he’ll take time out from his promotional trip to Australia next month to train with local rugby league star Jarryd Hayne.
The world record holder in the 100 and 200-meter sprints is heading to Sydney for the Athletics All Stars track and field meet on Sept. 15, which will feature a race to determine the fastest athlete from Australia’s four football codes.
Bolt, who recently invited Hayne to train with him in his native Jamaica, said he’s happy to get in an earlier session with the player who took the Rugby League International Federation’s 2009 International Player of the Year award.
“If I’m down there, I can show him a few things,” Bolt, 24, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “Can get some sprinting tips in.”
Hayne, who was also named as the National Rugby League’s best player last year, has scored 59 tries in 110 NRL games for the Parramatta Eels. He collected six straight man-of-the-match awards last season to lift the Eels into the Grand Final.
It won’t be the first time Bolt, the Olympic and world champion at the 100 and 200 sprints, has dabbled in other sports.
He’s also played charity cricket matches in the Caribbean and last year trained with record nine-time European soccer champion Real Madrid.
While he has no problem training with rugby players, Bolt said he won’t be getting involved in a full-contact session.
“It’s always fun to try different things,” Bolt said. “They might want me to play a little rugby. Those guys are really rough guys. I wouldn’t want to be in that mix at any time.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Bensch in London at bbensch@bloomberg.net.
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