With a good performance on Sunday, Adrian Peterson can become only the seventh running back in history to rush for 2,000 yards in an NFL season.
But Peterson is thinking beyond football to the track, and now believes he has a legitimate shot at making the U.S. Olympics team in 2016, and at beating world record holder Usain Bolt.
“I can stand up to any challenge. I know a lot of people laugh at me and say, ‘come one now…’” Peterson told Yahoo! Sports. ”I want to try for the Olympics, for the 200m and the 400m. That’s a goal of mine that I want to accomplish.”
The 27-year-old, who owns seven NFL rushing records, tore his ACL during a game against the Washington Redskins late last season, but said he had always planned to try his legs at sprinting before being sidelined.
Now that Peterson has recovered to lead the league with 1,898 rushing yards and bring his Vikings team to the threshhold of the playoffs, he believes his goals of making the Olympic team are back on track.
“Now that I’m back, and refreshed, I think I’m going to give it a shot still.”
Peterson said he’d like to “test the waters” as an independent at track meets, including the Penn Relays.
But despite the fact that he’s a world class athlete, a 31-year-old in Rio with a bum knee and little track experience has no chance of making the U.S. Olympic team. And even less of a chance of beating Bolt.
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Xinhua/Meng Yongmin
Three-time Olympic champ Veronica Campbell-Brown is hoping to avoid a maximum suspension for doping because the drug she tested positive for was reportedly contained in a cream she declared on her doping control form, according to Reuters. The Jamaican sprinter tested positive for the diuretic furosemide, which was found in urine samples taken at the…
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AFP PHOTO JOHN MACDOUGALL
Former Olympics ice dancing champs Gwendal Peizerat and Marina Anissina of France announced that they’ll reunite for a surprise comeback in hopes of qualifying for next year’s Sochi Games a full twelve years after retiring. “We got an offer from the French figure skating federation and the French sports ministry about taking part in the…
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David Rudisha injured in Central Park; will miss Kenyan championships
Jun 18, 2013, 12:15 PM EDT
World record 800m runner David Rudisha will be sidelined for about three weeks after suffering an injury while running New York’s Central Park. “[Rudisha] was jogging inside Central Park when he realized something was the matter with his knee,” his coach Colm O’Connell told Reuters Tuesday. “Two initial investigations were done, first in the USA and also in…
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Alexei Nikolsky/AFP/Getty Images
Following a side-meeting at the G8 Summit in Ireland on Monday, President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin decided that their two nations should join efforts in order to ensure the safety and security of athletes, officials, fans, and world leaders at next year’s Olympics. “The United States and Russia intend to continue to…
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YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/GettyImages
There’s still three months until the IOC determines which city – Tokyo, Madrid, or Istanbul – will host the 2020 Olympics. But two anonymous IOC officials told the Japan Times that Tokyo has the bid nearly locked up. All its officials need to do is avoid any major mistakes before the vote. Tokyo Governor and…
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Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
A new rule set in place by the International Boxing Association that would allow pros with fewer than fifteen bouts on their records to compete in the upcoming Olympics is in jeopardy after protests from boxing organizations and promoters. Now North American Boxing Federation President Joseph Dwyer is getting into the fight, and said his…
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Following the recent failed drug test and impeding suspension of Jamaican Olympic champ Veronica Campbell-Brown, Usain Bolt’s coach Glen Mills said it was time for the government to create an accredited anti-doping lab to “ensure the purity of substances” the athletes are using for training. “It just re-emphasizes the need for all involved to be…
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Courtesy of Lindsey Vonn via Facebook
Despite the budding relationship between Lindsey Vonn and Tiger Woods, the Olympic champ said she’s been able to go relatively unnoticed at this week’s U.S. Open just outside Philadelphia. “I can be normal by myself; no one notices me,” she told the New York Times Friday. “But wherever he’s around, we’re living in a fishbowl.…
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Decorated Jamaican Olympian tests positive for banned substance
Jun 15, 2013, 10:53 AM EDT
Olympic champion sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown is facing a two-year suspension from racing after samples taken at the Kingston Invitational last month tested positive for a banned substance. Testers reportedly found a diuretic in her system that was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency because of its use a masking agent for performance enhancing drugs. Campbell-Brown…
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Before Usain Bolt dominated the Bislett Games 200m race in Oslo Thursday – running a 2013 world’s best of 19.79 seconds to beat the field by 0.57 seconds – the world record sprinter, showman, and noted auto enthusiast excited the crowd when he arrived in a Formula 1 car. He may be a six-time Olympic…
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AP
Hurdler turned bobsledder (and now back to hurdler, we guess) Lolo Jones has apparently decided that the best way to land a date with Olympics legend Michael Phelps is to build a pool and invite him over for a swim. Or maybe she just wants him to bring one of his 22 career medals, after…
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Getty Images
In not so surprising news, Oscar Pistorius has been left off the South African Paralympic team for the World Championships next month in France. The once inspiring Olympic sprinter and Paralympian champion ruled out racing in 2013 back in May so he and his team could focus on his upcoming murder trial. Pistorus has admitted…
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Canadian Press
After his loss to Justin Gatlin in Rome last week, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt was looking for redemption and looking to make a statement with his 200m race in Oslo Thursday. He didn’t disappoint, breaking the tape in a meet record and 2013 world’s best 19.79 seconds, well clear of the pack. “I’m not in as…
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Madrid hopes new anti-doping law will strengthen Olympics bid
Jun 13, 2013, 11:43 AM EDT
DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images
On top of Madrid’s relatively minuscule budget of $1.9 billion for the 2020 Olympics – one-tenth of the $19 billion Istanbul has earmarked – Spain hopes the introduction of a new doping law three months before the vote will strengthen its bid. The new “Law for the Protection of Athletes’ Health and the Fight Against…
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OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images
Istanbul 2020 Officials said Wednesday that the recent violent protests in their nation will have “no bearing” on whether or not Istanbul is chosen to host the 2020 Olympics when IOC members meet for a final vote in Buenos Aires this September. “The feedback Istanbul 2020 has received from IOC members and the wider Olympic…
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Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
During his annual quasi-State of the Union address Wednesday before the first game of the Stanley Cup Finals, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that time is running out on locking up a deal between the NHL and the Olympics. The talks between the NHL, IOC, and IIHF have been ongoing since January, after the NHL…
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All-time Olympic great Ole Einar Bjørndalen, 39, said Wednesday he finally plans to retire from the biathlon following the Sochi Games in February. “It’s clearly a heavy decision,” he told NRK Wednesday. “I think it’s fun to take part, to train hard and sacrifice everything – to put everything else aside to be the best…
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GEPA pictures/ Christian Walgram
Despite Olympic champ Ted Ligety becoming the first man since 1968 to win three golds at the Alpine Ski World Championships, his career has been a bit overshadowed this year by both the injury and social life of fellow skier Lindsey Vonn. And now, so has his drug test. While Vonn being surprised by USADA…
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EPA
After his only-somewhat-surprising loss to Justin Gatlin in the 100m at the Rome Diamond League meet last week, Usain Bolt has vowed to bounce back from the rare defeat when he runs the 200m at the Bislett Games in Oslo on Thursday. “I’m feeling pretty good,” Bolt told reporters. “I think I’m in shape to…
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Darren Calabrese/National Post
Disgraced 1988 Olympic 100m champ Ben Johnson ran in his first “competitive” race in about two decades on Tuesday, as he took part in a celebrity 4x100m relay at the Toronto International Track and Field Games. So how did he feel after anchoring his team to victory in two heats? “Exhausted,” Johnson admitted to the…
