Usain Bolt plans to take up football after the Rio Olympics in 2016. “Everybody knows I love football. I’ll do one season (of sprinting) after the Rio Olympics and take up football after that,” the world champion sprinter  told MW in an exclusive interview in Bangalore,   where he is on a visit to launch sports shoe  brand Puma’s new Forever Faster campaign. Bolt has in the past talked about his dream of playing for his beloved Manchester United. But the fact that he will be 30 by the time he hangs his running shoes might be one big disadvantage. There are not many professional footballers in the world who have started their career at that age. But then there aren’t that many athletes in history who have won both the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4x 100 meter golds in two consecutive Olympics. So one will never know with Usain Bolt.

The Jamaican says he is also working towards improving his performance in the 200 metres race in preparation for the Olympics. He currently  holds  the  world record of 19.19 seconds over the distance, set  in Berlin in 2009.  “There’s room for improvement in 200 metres and this will help improve my 100 meters pace too,” he says, adding  half jokingly that it’s unlikely that anyone would beat his 100 m record (9.58 seconds) anytime soon.

Meanwhile in Bangalore despite the dark clouds in the sky, Bolt, a well known cricket lover, is all set to take on Yuvraj Singh in a Super Sixes face-off that will also feature Praveen Kumar and Harbhajan Singh. “I’m going to embarrass him. Didn’t you see what I did to Chris Gayle?”  The sprinter said referring the 2009 charity match in where he not only clean bowled the West Indies skipper, but also hit him for a six.