London, England (August 11, 2012)

Even as Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake were involved in a healthy rivalry on the field, a vicious rivalry was unfolding behind the scenes, and it came to the fore on Friday night after the Jamaican sprint champion won the 200m gold to make it a grand double in the London Olympics.

Soon after winning the race and pushing Blake to second spot, Bolt came out all guns blazing at a post-event press conference, saying he had lost "all respect" for American legend Carl Lewis.

Lewis had expressed his concerns over the robustness of Jamaica's drug-testing policy after the 2008 Beijing Games, where he had said that unlike in the United States, he doubted whether Jamaican athletes are tested for dope frequently or not.

Lewis again stirred up a hornet's nest by restating what he had said after Bolt's Beijing triumph.

An aggressive Bolt said at the press conference that though he had very high regard for sprint legend Jesse Owens, he had lost all respect for Lewis as the American was just an attention seeker.

"For me, Jesse Owens I have a lot of respect for. He's a great athlete. He has done great things for his country. He has really pushed athletes to their best … I'm going to say something controversial right now. Carl Lewis, I've no respect for him," Bolt said at the packed press meet.

Bolt said that Lewis should abstain from saying downgrading things about other athletes, adding that since the American icon had been pushed out of limelight, he was just seeking attention.

Lewis had said before the Bolt's sprint events began that countries like Jamaica did not have a foolproof random dope-testing regimen and that everyone "needs to be on a level playing field".

Meanwhile, the London Olympic Games Organizing Committee (LOGOC) chairman, Sebastian Coe, said he had no concerns whatsoever about Jamaica's drug-testing policy, adding that all the athletes were being properly monitored.

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