Should 'Lightning' be allowed to strike twice?

Glen Mills jokes that he's never sprinted in his life, except when trying to avoid getting run over by a car in Jamaica. So this laid back 58-year-old is in no hurry to make the fateful decision which could either protect or destroy the time-honoured status of the men's 100metre sprint as the blue riband event of the Olympic Games.

For Mills is the coach of Usain Bolt, simply the most thrilling athlete in the sport today. And while Games organisers, international athletics officials and the whole of Jamaica are desperate for the world 100m record holder to stamp his new iconic status on the short sprint, Mills will have the final say - and he still hasn't made his mind up.

"Usain will run the 200metres but he wants to do the 100 as well - but I've said to him 'You have to demonstrate to me that you are ready to do both'," Mills told Standard Sport after his charge flew in to Britain to compete in the Aviva London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace.

"Everybody in Jamaica's saying he must run the 100. I don't worry about it. I have to make my decision and not be influenced by outside. The only person who can influence me is Usain." The dilemma for Mills is this. Bolt, inevitably nicknamed 'Lightning' since his remarkable performances as a beanpole 15-year-old, had been concentrating all his preparations for Beijing on the 200m when the promise of his 'boy wonder' youth was fulfilled by his incredible flirtation with the 100m.

In New York in May, he sped to an astounding new world record of 9.72sec. Suddenly, everyone assumed that he would double up at 100m and 200m in Beijing but Mills is still worried that by running the marquee event against the world's other two fastest, Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell, the 21-year-old could compromise his half-lap chances.

The prospect of a three-way showdown in Beijing was further damaged last night by Gay's withdrawal from the 100m at Crystal Palace on Friday with an injury that may threaten his Olympic hopes, but Mills is concerned only about his charge - who will run just the 200m at Crystal Palace at the weekend.

"Say he runs the 100 and it doesn't go the way we planned and then it cost us the 200. We'd be empty handed wouldn't we?" said Mills. "The way it looks, the 200 is almost a shoe-in."