He couldn’t beat it. But I’m getting older, so I am pleased to get the gold medal.
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“I’m always happy for the win but I wanted a faster time”, he told NBC afterward.
“I tried but my body would not respond to me”. “Personally I think this is my last 200 but my coach may beg to differ”.
Croatian Sara Kolak won javelin gold to dash Czech Barbora Spotakova’s dreams of becoming the first woman to win three consecutive gold medals in the same individual athletics event. Victor of the 100m for a third successive Olympics on Sunday, Bolt became the first man to complete a 200m treble, winning by a distance over the rest of the field at Rio’s Olympic Stadium on Thursday.
In fact, with his electric final 25 metres, the Markham, Ont., native became the first Canadian since Percy Williams in 1928 to win a medal in both the 100 and 200 sprints at the same Olympics.
Bolt was typically relaxed before the race, performing a samba on the blocks and encouraging the crowd to cheer louder. On Friday – two days before the turns 30 – Bolt goes for this third straight in the 4×100 relays with his Jamaican teammates. The relay final is tonight.
Coming in behind Bolt’s time of 19.78 was Andre De Grasse of Canada who would win silver with a 20.02.
He glanced to his left to check out the clock.
It was part of an emerging pattern: All week in Rio, Bolt has promoted De Grasse as the future of sprinting, making a show of how much he respects him on the track.
His record in his favorite race still stands at 19.19. The only question was whether he could challenge the world record of 19.19 seconds he’d set in Berlin in 2009. Bolt easily defeated the field with a time of 19.78 seconds.
Usain Bolt, you are a freak. It’s the sprint he worked on from the very beginning.
Bolt has been at his best these Olympics in the early rounds of the 100 and 200, when he faced no real pressure to improve upon his own formidable records.
So, the 100 was his hobby, the 200 was his day job, and when he started talking about goals for the Games, he said immortality was the main one. He really wanted it, you could tell.
An even larger roar went up when the 29-year-old performed his trademark “lightning bolt” stance as he strolled towards the finish line. Usain Bolt (JAM) of Jamaica reacts as he runs ahead of Christophe Lemaitre (FRA) of France, LaShawn Merritt (USA) of USA, Andre De Grasse (CAN) of Canada and Alonso Edward (PAN) of Panama. But he didn’t really find it amusing.
“I can’t prove anything else”.
“A couple years ago, I never thought I would be in the position to be one of the greatest”, said De Grasse. “I really put Jamaica on the map”. He has a lot of talent.
Crouser stunned his rivals to win the U.S. Olympic trials and during the Games final he looked untouchable. It was also a jab at De Grasse for running so hard in the semi-final.
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Bolt won the gold medal in the 200m during the Beijing Games in 2008 and during the London Olympics in 2012.
