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Updated at 2:44 p.m., Thursday, September 11, 2008

Olympic champion Bolt will train with Real Madrid soccer team

By Dan Baynes
Bloomberg News

Usain Bolt, who swept the sprint titles at last month's Beijing Olympics in world-record time, will train with Spanish soccer champion Real Madrid.

The 22-year-old Jamaican, who claimed gold medals and world records in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400-meter relay in Beijing, said Real had invited him to train with players including Raul Gonzalez and Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

"I'll definitely take up the offer," Bolt said in an interview on the Laureus Web site. "Raul and Van Nistelrooy are some of the best goal scorers ever. I look forward to meeting these guys."

Bolt, who lowered his own 100-meter record to 9.69 seconds in Beijing before breaking Michael Johnson's 12-year-old 200- meter standard with a time of 19.30, didn't specify when he would train with Madrid.

Bolt could have run the Olympic 100 in 9.55 had he not celebrated prematurely in the final 20 meters, New Scientist magazine reported two days ago, citing research conducted by the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Oslo.

Scientists used videotape footage to measure Bolt's positions, speeds and accelerations as well as those of Trinidad and Tobago sprinter Richard Thompson, the race runner-up.

Their measurements showed both Bolt and Thompson decelerated in the final two seconds of the race, with a larger drop in speed for Bolt, New Scientist said.