R2.6m fee to watch Bolt run

Paris - Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt has been signed up to run the 200m at the Diamond League meeting in Paris in July, organisers said on Tuesday.

"With Bolt, we know that we will easily fill the Stade de France." said the head of the meeting, Laurent Boquillet, adding that organisers had shelled out $300 000 (R2.6m) to bring the Jamaican track king to the French capital on July 6.

Bolt, 26, won 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay gold at last year's Olympics in London, repeating the feat that he first achieved in Beijing four years earlier and cementing his reputation as the greatest sprinter of all time.

Boquillet said the fee was standard for a runner of Bolt's calibre, pointing out that before his Olympic triple feat last year, he was available for $250 000 per meeting.

The Paris Diamond league meeting is the ninth on the main athletics circuit.