The closest Bolt has come to his 2009 record is the 19.32sec he clocked in winning the gold at the London Olympics in 2012.
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Bolt beat American Justin Gatlin, who was greeted by the fans with raucous boos, by.08 seconds.
“Somebody said I can become immortal”. The fastest man in the world, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, who won his third gold medal in the same event, has taken De Grasse under his wing.
Elsewhere, South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk shocked the Olympic Stadium by smashing the world record as he clinched the gold medal in the men’s 400m.
Bolt admitted his performance in the final was far from flawless and blamed a timetable he branded “ridiculous” and “stupid” for his failure to go quicker, with the short-turnaround after the semi-final leaving little time to recover and go again. Bolt’s semi-final run will be set Thursday at 7:35 a.m. while the finals will be on August 19 at 9:10 a.m.
Simone Biles goes for a gold medal in her final event in Rio, the floor exercise.
All three Britons also made it through, Adam Gemili, the team captain, the fastest of the lot in 20.20, although he ran much harder than either Bolt or Gatlin.
Meanwhile, American Christian Taylor retained his long jump title with a leap of 17.86m, while Croatia’s Sandra Perkovic won her second straight Olympic discus title. No, there would be no fireworks in an opening heat with no medal at stake and nobody lining up who could even give him a race. Van Niekerk finished in 43.03 seconds – 0.15 seconds faster than Johnson ran on August 26, 1999 in Seville, Spain.
Having already looked sharp in the semi, Bolt produced a familiar modest start while Gatlin shot out of the blocks for an early lead, but he soon got going and left his rival with no chance in the later stages of the race. “I’m just happy to be here”.
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Bolt said: “My coach [Glen Mills] said he’s the only guy right now, apart from me, that can break the 400m world record”.
