OSLO (Reuters) - Multiple Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt is training with Norwegian top-flight side Stromsgodset as he pursues his dream of becoming a professional footballer, newspaper Verdens Gang reported on Wednesday.
The 31-year-old Jamaican, who retired from athletics after winning eight Olympic gold medals, is a soccer fanatic and trained with the club in Drammen, some 40km south-west of Oslo, earlier on Wednesday.
He also hopes to play some part in a friendly against the club's Under-19 side.
"I want to try to get better, to work as hard as I can, play as much as I can. Maybe a club will see something and decide to give me a chance," said Bolt, who hung up his spikes after last year's world championships in London.
Stromsgodset sporting director Jostein Flo said Bolt was given shirt number 9.58 - his world record time for the 100 metres - to wear during his time at the club and added that he may get a chance to play in a game to show what he can do.
The Stromsgodset players were surprised to find the world's fastest man in their dressing room on Wednesday, Flo said.
"We told them a player was coming to try out and that he was damn fast - the door opened, and Bolt came in. It was a shock for them, they couldn't believe it," Flo added.
Manchester United fan Bolt also trained with Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund in March.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor, additional reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo)