Berlin - Usain Bolt would have trouble breaking the 10-second barrier if he had to run 100 metres on a cinder track with old equipment, the 1960 Olympic sprint champion Armin Hary said on Monday.

Hary, 72, told the German Press Agency dpa that he considered Bolt's world run of 9.58 seconds for the world title on Sunday "sensational" but that a long-term domination by him and other Jamaican sprinters would "not do athletics good."

Hary gained fame in 1960 when he ran a world record 10.0 seconds and captured Olympic gold over the distance in Rome.

At the time track events took place on a cinder track and sprinters used shoes with long spikes to get some grip, including Jesse Owens in his four gold medal feat at the
1936 Olympics.

Rubber tracks, often referred to as tartan track, have been in use since the Mexico Olympics 1968, where electronic timing was introduced as well.

"My races are 50 years in the past. But I would like to see today's sprinters, they would be shocked and would not dare stepping on a cinder track.

"Bolt would have to make a big effort to clock 10.0, given his tall height and his weight. With my old spikes and its four-centimetre thorns," said Hary.

When quizzed on the issue, Bolt said on Sunday he wasn't too keen on trying this kind of "old school" running.

"We are too fast, we would break a leg. We prefer to run on the rubber," said Bolt. (dpa)