IAAF chief says Athletics will survive even after 'sprint-king' Usain Bolt retires

Sebastian Coe, the new IAAF president, believes that athletics will survive the loss of Usain Bolt when the Jamaican sprinter eventually retires from the sport.

Bolt, who collected his 11th World Championship gold medal after winning his 4x100m relay on Sunday in Beijing, had earlier hinted that he could bid farewell to the spot after next year's Rio Games.

Coe, the former British Olympics champion, maintained that no sportsman or woman since Muhammad Ali has captured the public imagination and propelled their sport as quickly and as far as Bolt has, Sport24 reported.

Coe further said that athletics is adorned by some of the most outrageously superhuman, talented people in any sport, and insisted that their challenge was to make sure the public know there are other athletes in the sport.

Six-time Olympics champion Bolt reasserted his sprint supremacy after defeating his American arch-nemisis Justin Gatlin in the 100m and 200m respectively at the worlds.