Bolt has been the dominant sprinter for years now.
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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 colours of Jamaica.
Bolt said: “I don’t need to prove anything else”. “I’ve proven to the world that I’m the greatest”.
“I am trying to be one of the greatest. Be among Ali and Pele”, Bolt said after the race. “I hope to be in that bracket after these Games”.
Friday’s 4×100-meter relay final is all that’s left now between Bolt and an historic three golds at three straight Olympics.
Usain Bolt wrote another chapter of improbable Olympic history with a third consecutive 200m crown as Ashton Eaton led an American gold rush by clinching back-to-back decathlon titles.
“My throwing has been bad in the past, but I really got after the discus and shot here”, Eaton said.
“I wasn’t happy with the time”, he added, with his trademark grin. The shock of the race came with France’s Christophe Lemaitre improving his qualifying time by nearly a second to take bronze in a photo finish with Adam Gemili and veteran Churandy Martina. Both were awarded the same time of 20.12. “I love the hunger”, said Bailey admiring De Grasse for wanting more from himself. It was not to be.
De Grasse came in second and he was just 0.02 behind Bolt’s finish time.
“I ran hard around the turn”, the Jamaican said.
“I tried but my body would not respond to me”. Though Justin Gatlin was a favorite to challenge Bolt, having already taken silver in the 100, he failed to advance after a 20.13 performance in the semis. Perhaps he was right to say that he would only be running the 100m at the world championships in London next year.
“But I obviously have to continue to work hard and always bring my “A” game because it’s not going to be easy”. But I’m getting older, so I am pleased to get the gold medal. I did but I lost some form at the end but it has been a fantastic season.
Meanwhile, Gemili was disconsolate after he missed a spot on the podium by three thousandths of a second. After initially being disqualified for dropping the baton, the United States successfully filed an appeal that Allyson Felix was interfered with by Brazil.
Victory means Bolt is now just one race away from a clean sweep of nine sprint golds across three Games.
While the scheduling of every Olympic track and field program dictates that the 200m will follow the 100m, it is still fitting the half lap was the event in which Bolt needed to win to secure the individual “triple double”.
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Oregon’s Ashton Eaton won the decathlon, the two-day test of versatility, to join the Bob Mathias (1948 and ’52) of the US and Great Britain’s Daley Thompson (’80 and ’84) as the only two-time decathlon winners in Olympic history.
