Jamaica's Usain Bolt celebrates after winning the men's 4x100 relay final at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea, Sept. 4, 2011.Lee Jin-man
The world's fastest man won't have a girlfriend to slow him down on his way to the Olympics.
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has ended his relationship with Slovakian fashion designer Lubica Slovak in order to focus on preparing for the London Games, The Jamaica Star reports.
The runner cannot afford any distractions in the lead up to the Games, unidentified sources close to Mr. Bolt told the newspaper.
"He will have plenty of time for relationships. At the moment he's concentrating on his running career and doesn't want anything to distract from that," a source said, according to the London Sun.
A representative from PACE Sports Management, which counts Mr. Bolt as a client, declined to comment on the report, saying they do not discuss their athletes' personal lives.
Mr. Bolt, 25, currently holds the world record in the 100 metre and 200 metre and, along with his teammates, the 4 x100 metres relay. He is also the Olympic champion in these events. No doubt, he's under considerable pressure to perform well in London this summer.
Then again, maybe his breakup was just the perfect excuse that only the world's greatest athletes can use to get out of a relationship. "Sorry baby, it's not you. It's the Olympics."
Ms. Slovak, who immigrated to Canada as a teenager and studied fashion design in Toronto, moved to Jamaica after vacationing there. She was introduced to Mr. Bolt last year through a mutual friend, according to the Sun.
The pair received heaps of abuse earlier this year when a photograph of them kissing was published in the Jamaica Observer, with some readers criticizing the sprinter for dating a white woman.
The breakup was a "mutual decision between two adults," a source told the Sun.
Have you ever ended a relationship to focus on your career?
Dave McGinn