Jamaica sprint king Usain Bolt has expressed regret at attempting to transition to football in Australia.

Bolt, who still holds the sprint records for both the 100m and 200m, recently revealed that he had several offers in Europe but choose Australia to escape the glare of the media spotlight.

The decorated champion had in fact garnered plenty of attention in 2018 when he announced his desire to launch a career in football, after retiring from track and field.  After several stints in a few countries, the Jamaican settled on an eight-week trial with Australia A-League team Central Coast Mariners.  His professional football dreams fizzled, however, after failing to reach teams with the club.  The Olympic champion did score two goals in two exhibition appearances.

Looking back, however, Bolt believes he may have been better served taking up one of his other offers and going on trial elsewhere.

“I said to people the mistake that I made when I was transitioning to football is the fact that I went so far, which was in Australia,” Bolt said recently at the Digicel Business Masterclass Series.

 “I should have stayed in Europe; in England or France, because I got a lot of offers from different places. I was trying to get away from the media because if I stayed in Europe, they were always going to be on top of me. So, I was trying to avoid [them].”