Bolt will now go in search of 200m and relay success as he looks to sign off with nine Olympic gold medals. “I told you guys I was going to do it”, he said after becoming the first man to win three 100m sprints with a time of 9.81sec.
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The Jamaican sprinter’s swan song in the Olympic 100 meters was a pedestrian-by-his-standards 9.81-second sprint, capped off by pointing to his chest a step before the finish line. “I’m happy to get the first one out, it felt okay”, said Bolt. But like everyone who has gone up against Usain Bolt at the Olympics, that’s as close as De Grasse would get. They were delighted to witness history.
Theatrical, yes, but that’s Bolt.
Bolt unlaced his now-famous gold spikes and took barefoot selfies with fans in the near-capacity stadium in Rio de Janeiro. “My next Olympics I’m looking forward to it”. He has to extract himself. Second place went to Maria Paseka of Russian Federation at 15.253. Bolt is six-foot-five and muscled.
A split-second after he crossed, Bolt raised the index finger, and then, the real party began.
“The people who were booing me, don’t even know me”. He said the short turnaround between the semifinal and final sapped his strength. But again, he failed to dethrone Bolt.
And Bolt plans to run for Jamaica in the 4×100 meter relay, too, going for their third straight gold.
At the 2013 world championships in Moscow, with heavy rain falling, Bolt mimed putting up an umbrella and appropriately lightning bolts lit up the sky around the stadium.
Rio 2016 is his third act. Always smiling, dancing, joking, he’s the consummate showman.
Likened to a heavyweight fight, the Rumble in Rio lived up to expectations.
Simone Biles is trying to find out.
Bolt appeared to be at his most vulnerable in Rio.
Bolt came into the Olympics not having run a 100 since June 30, when he pulled out of the Jamaican national championships with a bad left hamstring.
On a lovely night in Rio, the most attractive sight at the Olympic Stadium had to be Bolt chasing down Justin Gatlin and pulling away to an unprecedented third straight Olympic gold in the race that crowns the fastest man on earth.
His foil Sunday was Gatlin, twice penalized for doping. His second ban, for four years, was for excessive testosterone.
The American was booed by the Joao Havelange Stadium crowd when he was introduced in his semi-final and booed when he won it.
“The whole issue was over a decade ago”.
Among many other embarrassments are empty seats, long lines and green water in some of the Olympic pools. “I would like to see everyone have respect in the audience as well”. At 34, Gatlin will likely call it quits well before Tokyo. He became the oldest medalist. Grenada’s Kirani James is tipped as a hot favorite, and some think he is capable of breaking Michael Johnson’s world record set in 1999, although Johnson has questioned his technique.
“De Grasse is showing that he’s ready”, said Bolt.
Second-seeded Andy Murray of Britain beat Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina for his second consecutive Olympic singles tennis gold medal.
“I expected to go faster, but I’m happy that I won”, Bolt told BBC Sport.
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Bolt, competing in his final Olympics, took to the track moments after South African Wayde van Niekerk’s stunning 400m world record of 43.03. Van Niekerk, running blind in lane 8, extended his large lead down the homestretch and beat defending Olympic champion Kirani James of Grenada and 2008 Olympic champ LaShawn Merritt of the USA, who was third. As Sunday’s race got underway, he was well on his way to upset, starting far ahead of Bolt in the first half of their seconds-long run.
