Ashton Eaton has become nearly as dominant in the decathlon as Bolt is in the sprints but the American was happy to defer to Bolt after retaining his title.
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While Usain Bolt was weaving his way through what seemed a never-ending line of journalists, on the sidelines was four-time Olympic champion Sanya Richards-Ross, shouting his name, begging for him to flash a smile at her so she could capture it on her smartphone, tell people “I was there”.
“I don’t need to prove anything else”.
“I think it would have helped if I had somebody faster in front of me”.
“The benefit of also having an Olympic gold in the bag is access, so while others simply continued to yell his name, Richards-Ross was allowed to join the throng of journalists and get the picture she seemed to crave almost as badly as Olympic gold”. From throwing, to jumping, to running, Eaton can do it all.
Usain Bolt completed the triple-double on Thursday night, winning the 200 meters for the third-straight Olympics after having already done the same in the 100 meters.
Asked if he would miss Bolt or be said to see him go, De Grasse said: “A little bit of both”. “My body wouldn’t respond to me, so I guess it’s just age and all around taking a toll”.
He is scheduled to take part in the 4x100m relay on Friday, where he could win his ninth – and final – Olympic gold medal.
Back in his younger days, Bolt raced against himself, and he always won. Justin Gatlin had made noise about challenging Bolt in the 200, but Gatlin didn’t even make it out of his heat.
Wednesday produced an “awesome hour” for the US track team, according to Tianna Bartoletta.
Following his latest triumph, which keeps him on course for an unprecedented “triple-triple” of sprint successes, the Jamaican reiterated he was unlikely to compete over 200 metres again at a major championship and expressed his joy at claiming an eighth Olympic crown.
Dalilah Muhammad and Ashley Spencer won gold and bronze medals in the women’s 400-meter hurdles final.
On Copacabana beach, Alistair and Jonny Brownlee became the first British brothers to win Olympic gold and silver when they blitzed the field in the men’s triathlon. “We want eight from eight”, said GB captain Helen Richardson-Walsh, whose wife Kate is also on the team. Canada won seven medals at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
For a few short moments, the USA women’s 4×100 relay team was a little like Bolt: They were the only ones everyone was looking at. With just that clock and the crowd for company, the Americans took the baton around in 41.77 seconds to reach the final. “Our coach said before we went out there, ‘It’s just like practice, just the whole world will be watching”.
The Jamaican superstar romped in what he says is likely his last Olympic individual race Thursday night, but finished in 19.78 seconds, .59 short of his own world record the one he said he really wanted to break.
“How can’t there be one stinking point in there somewhere?”
“The fact I came here and executed what I wanted to is a brilliant feeling”, he told BBC Sport.
Sara Kolak of Croatia won the women’s javelin, another first-time Olympic champion like Crouser.
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Gold-medal favorite Caster Semenya kept plenty in reserve in the semifinals of the women’s 800 meters and still posted the fastest of the qualifying times in 1 minute, 58.15 seconds.
