Usain Bolt Denies Commonwealth Games Slur

Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt has denied making negative comments about the Commonwealth Games.

Bolt was quoted in The Times as calling the event "a bit s***" and saying he was "not really" having fun in Scotland.

Denying the claim, Bolt tweeted : "I'm waking up to this nonsense ... journalist please don't create lies to make headlines."

Manager Ricky Simms waded in to the row, telling BBC Sport the remarks attributed to his client were "utter rubbish".

"The atmosphere in and around the stadiums has been absolutely fantastic and I have absolutely no idea where these quotes have come from," he said.

Jamaica sprint teammate Jason Livermore seemed to confuse matters further when, after being asked if Bolt was enjoying Glasgow, said: "I hope so, better than me."

Asked what he meant, Livermore responded: "It's been lovely so far, the people in Scotland are very welcoming, I can't complain. Nice atmosphere, nice crowd, I'm enjoying myself."

Asked how he was coping with the food in the village, Livermore said: "Ooof, sometimes."

The Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive, Mike Hooper, said: "We take Mr Bolt at his word. We're very pleased with how he's responded and that's our position."

Glasgow 2014 spokeswoman Jackie Brock-Doyle said: "I think he woke up to the story like everyone else. His tweet says it all. He has woken up to something he didn't believe he said yesterday."

The Times newspaper, however, insists its story is true, saying Bolt did make the comments outside the athletes' village on Tuesday.

Its Scottish editor, Angus Macleod, said: "We stand by this story 100%. We have utter confidence in this story."

The reporter behind the article tweeted that the "full conversation" would appear in Thursday's newspaper.

Bolt, who arrived in Glasgow on Saturday, confirmed he would compete in the 4x100m relay heats on Friday and the sprint relay final on Saturday, the final day of the athletics competition.

He said he was eager to make his Commonwealth Games debut having missed the Melbourne Games through injury in 2006 and not appearing at the Delhi Games in 2010.

The Jamaican holds the 100m and 200m world records.

His decision to compete this time has given a huge boost to the Games, particularly as other stars such as Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill are absent.