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RIO DE JANEIRO. — As doping-tainted athletics emerges from its darkest hour fighting to restore its credibility, the reality for track and field is that it will have to cross that rocky road without Usain Bolt.

The Jamaican, who sealed an amazing third haul of three Olympic sprint gold medals in Rio, has consistently been a beacon for clean athletes amid doping and corruption scandals that mired Sebastian Coe’s first year in office as IAAF president. Bolt will compete at next year’s world championships in London as his swansong, meaning the next Olympics in Tokyo will not feature one of sport’s most recognisable figures. Coe insists, however, that athletics will endure, saying that Bolt had transcended his sport in a way that was comparable to boxing icon Muhammad Ali. — AFP.