On a muggy Sunday night in Rio, the Jamaican superstar won the signature event in track and field in a runaway and added this line to his already gleaming resume: first person to capture three straight 100-meter titles at the Olympics.
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Ibarguen, 32, grabbed Colombia’s second gold medal of the Rio Olympics, twice clearing 15 meters with a best jump of 15.17m.
American Gatlin appeared destined to upset the great Jamaican before Bolt turned on the jets to power across the line first.
Bolt also said he had been shocked by the booing in the stadium aimed at his rival Gatlin, who came second.
“I told you guys I wanted to set myself apart from everybody else and this is the Olympics I had to do it”.
The charismatic Bolt is attempting to do exactly what he did in 2008 and 2012 – win the 100, the 200 and the 4×100 relay.
Usain Bolt has continued to make Olympic history after defending his 100m crown at Rio 2016, reaffirming his status as the fastest man on the planet.
Artistic gymnast Max Whitlock won his second Olympic gold medal of the day by narrowly beating Great Britain team-mate Louis Smith in the men’s pommel horse.
Bolt’s 100-metre race lasted less than 10 seconds, but attracted 27,000 more streams than the Boomers game. Gatlin’s career has been dogged by doping suspensions and controversy, but he is in good form and the fastest man in the world this year.
While all eyes were on Kirani James and Lashawn Merritt in the middle lanes, South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk burst around the outside and pulled away from both of them, with a winning time of 43.03 – smashing Michael Johnson’s record by 0.15 seconds. The European pair duelled for more than five hours, and neither had more than a one-stroke advantage the entire round. I thought it could have been a fast finals.
After Bolt won his race, he found van Niekirk and the two champions embraced. But Bolt has always been more than that, ever since he announced his dominance of the sport with three gold medals in his Olympic debut eight years ago in Beijing. “Me and Usain met back in January, we did a lot of things together”. The race began and ended in Rio’s Sambodromo, the parade ground where the city’s Carnival takes place every year.
It’s hard to believe anything you see on the track anymore.
There was plenty of action elsewhere on Sunday.
He was the clear favourite to win in Beijing past year, and many thought he could beat Bolt in Rio. She nailed them both.
Simone Manuel became the first female African-American to win a gold medal in swimming. She won’t be competing in the finals of the uneven bars.
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Britain’s Justin Rose and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson teed off on the 72nd hole of the Olympic golf tournament tied, with a playoff looking likely.
