Usain Bolt feels sorry for Mo Farah over Salazar allegations

Usain Bolt has expressed his sympathy for British athlete Mo Farah following doping allegations against his coach Alberto Salazar.

Olympic champion Bolt said: "I've come through the ranks with Mo, so I've seen all the work that he has put in.

"So for me, I'm sorry for Mo as he's in the papers every day and they are trying to tear him down."

Bolt, in London to compete at the Anniversary Games this weekend, added: "He works so hard to get where he is for someone's mistakes to be causing him problems.

"So I just hope it doesn't cause him too many problems or stress him out.

"It is part of the sport, people are always pointing fingers. So I just hope that he doesn't take it too seriously."

Salazar has denied the allegations made in a BBC investigation.

Double Olympic champion Farah, 32, has said he will continue to work with Salazar and will compete in England for the first time since the story broke last month when he runs the 3,000m at the Anniversary Games in the Olympic Stadium on Friday night.

Bolt, a friend of Farah who shares the same agent in Ricky Simms, added: "When you have confidence in your coach over the years and you know who he is as a person, of course you're going to want to support him as an athlete.

"If he believes in his coach, I believe in him."

Bolt 'frustrated and angry'

Jamaican Bolt, 28, is using the London event to help him prepare for next month's World Championships in Beijing following an injury-hit season.

His defence of his 100m title is likely to see him come up against Americans Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay and Jamaica's Asafa Powell, who have all returned to racing following bans for drug offences.

And Bolt, who has won six Olympic sprint gold medals, says he is angered by the cloud placed over the sport by doping issues, with Gay's ban for testing positive for an anabolic steroid hitting him particularly hard.

He said: "When you work hard and the sport's getting back a good reputation and then it slides back when other athletes decide they want to do the wrong thing, it does upset me.

"Then everybody starts pointing fingers again and starts speculating. It doesn't help the sport in any way. At times I do get frustrated and angry.

"I competed with Tyson throughout the years. I had so much respect for him as a competitor, I looked at him as one of the greatest competitors I've ever competed against.

"He was dedicated, he worked hard. That's one of the ones that really hurt me. It really hurts as an athlete to know that the person you really look up to is banned for drugs.

"Justin Gatlin was before my time. I'm not saying it's right, but it happened when I was just coming into the sport."

Credit: BBC