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Track star Usain Bolt out for season with back injury

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Jamaican track star Usain Bolt will be sidelined the rest of the season due to a back injury, his agent said Tuesday.

Bolt, the world record holder in the 100- and 200-meter races, was examined Monday by a Munich doctor, who found a lower back problem that could cause injury to the runner’s hamstring or calf muscles if not treated.

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‘With a view to his future career, we believe further treatment to loosen his back followed by a period of rest will be in his best interest,’ Bolt’s agent Ricky Simms said in a statement.

Last week Bolt, 23, lost in the 100-meter race to American Tyson Gay in Stockholm, his first loss in the event in more than two years. He was scheduled to compete on the Diamond League circuit in Zurich, Switzerland, and Brussels later this month, with a showdown with Gay and former world-record holder Asafa Powell, who missed the meet in Stockhom, on tap in Brussels.

‘I am very disappointed to miss two of the top meetings on the circuit -- Zurich and Brussels -- but trust that it is better for me not to take any risks this year,’ Bolt said.

He continued saying ‘2011 and 2012 are very important championship years, and I hope to be back fully fit and healthy,’ referring to next year’s world championships in Daegu, South Korea, and the London Olympics in 2012.

Bolt has been dealing with an Achilles tendon problem as well this season, but an MRI scan revealed it was healed.

-- Chuck Schilken

Reuters contributed to this report.

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