Usain Bolt headlines Jamaica’s 63-member Rio team

Tuesday, 12 July 2016 00:54 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Sprint king Usain Bolt was named to the Jamaican Olympic team in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m races despite an injury that kept him from qualifying at trials, the Jamaican Olympic Association said on Monday.

The six-time Olympic gold medallist was forced to withdraw from his country’s trials earlier this month with a hamstring injury but was allowed on Jamaica’s team headed to the Rio Summer Games after applying for a medical exemption.

The inclusion of the world record holder in both the 100m and 200m on the Rio-bound Jamaican team came a day after Bolt posted a photograph from Germany of himself back in training.

Unlike in the United States, where the first three finishers in the trials win Olympic berths, Jamaica’s selection policy allows medical exemptions.

Bolt and Olympic 110m hurdles bronze medallist Hansle Parchment were among four athletes named to the Olympic team after receiving medical exemptions from the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association.

Jamaica’s delegation of 63 athletes across three sporting disciplines for the Aug. 5-21 Rio Olympics also includes one gymnast, two swimmers and one diver.