Bolt is running in the 200-meter final and going for his third straight sprint double after winning the 100 and 200 in the Beijing and London Games.
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While the people who run athletics are dreading the day Usain Bolt leaves their stage, Canadian Andre de Grasse must be licking his lips at the prospect having emerged as the man most likely to fill the void. He plaintively raised his palms to the sky, tugged hard on his shirt, then angrily ripped the No. 6 sticker off his right hip.
Bolt finished with a time of 19.78, which is the fastest time so far this year.
De Grasse, 21, who ran to within 0.02 seconds of Bolt to set a new Canadian record on Wednesday night, couldn’t quite scale those heights again. I really wanted to go faster. “When I came off the corner, my legs decided, ‘Listen, we’re not going to go any faster'”.
As Guns N’Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” blasted out, huge cheers greeted Bolt, wearing black lycra shorts and a singlet in the green, gold and black colors of Jamaica.
Usain Bolt of Jamaica crosses the finish line first to win the gold in this photofinish picture.
McMillan said DeGrasse’s first 40 metres were ideal, but that he lost the race coming out of the bend: he tried to rush it, lost some form, and wasn’t close enough to close the gap.
In the final strides of Thursday’s 200, raced over a surface glistening from a light rain moments before the start, he closed strong enough to open some light between the rest of the field.
Canada’s Andre de Grasse took silver in 20.02secs, while France’s Christophe Lemaitre edged out Great Britain’s Adam Gemili for bronze in agonising fashion, with both men given the same time of 20.12s. You could’ve driven a truck through the gap between first and second place. The time came up: 19.78.
The field in Thursday night’s race did not include one of Bolt’s American rivals: Justin Gatlin failed to qualify for the final. “So, to be eight-time gold medalist is shocking”.
But the after-party was great, as usual. “I focus on what I need to do because if I don’t there will not be a Usain Bolt”. The once-in-a-lifetime sprinter dropped to his knees and kissed the track before giving his iconic “To The World” pose.
His record in his favorite race still stands, though, at 19.19. “My body didn’t respond”, Bolt told NBC after the race. It’s the sprint he worked on from the very beginning.
So, the 100 was his hobby, the 200 was his day job, and when he started talking about goals for these Games, he said immortality was the main one. Ashton Eaton, largely considered the world’s greatest all-around athlete, won gold in decathlon for the second straight Olympics. “Personally I think this is my last 200 but my coach may beg to differ”.
“Be among Ali and Pele”, Bolt said after the race. “I hope to be in that bracket after these Games”.
Lochte has been in the news all week over his ever-shifting claim that he and his teammates were robbed in a taxi at gunpoint by men carrying a badge during a night of partying Sunday. “And he has nothing to prove now”.
There was the lightest sheen of rain that covered the track, though there has always been debate about whether a bit of moisture can help or hurt with speed.
Bolt will next take part in the 4X400m relay with Blake, Asafa Powell and Nickel Ashmeade being the probable three. His 19.78 finish was the worst final of his Olympic career.
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“I was just saying goodbye, this is my last individual event at the Olympics”, he said. “I’m not sure if I just used up a little bit too much energy yesterday and didn’t have anything left today”. So I guess it’s just age and all the rounds that’s taken toll. “I’ve done all I can do”.
