Klay Thompson’s 22 points led the Americans to their third straight Olympic gold-medal game with an 82-76 win over Spain, the silver medalist in both Beijing and London.
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The U.S. men’s basketball team just got by Spain on Friday, hours before another Olympic juggernaut, Usain Bolt, says his goodbye at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Just before the men’s race, the USA women’s 400-meter relay team of Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner and Tori Bowie won gold with a time of 41.01 seconds. United States was originally third but later disqualified, along with Trinidad & Tobago, which meant fourth-placed Canada moved up into the bronze medal position after Andre De Grasse anchored them to a national record of 37.64. The rest of the team was pretty speedy in the three handoffs prior to him, but it was a three-way race between a strong US team and Japan going into the home stretch.
Bolt came to Rio chasing a historic triple-triple but is aware that it could be out of his hands before he even gets a chance to power down the final straight one last time at an Olympic Games. If he wins, he will be the only one to ever win all three gold medals which he competed for in three consecutive Olympics.
If you didn’t know before the Rio Olympics, Usain Bolt is very good at running.
Before Bolt announced his arrival at the global stage with stunning wins at the 2008 Beijing Games, Johnson’s 1996 record was considered as one of the greatest feats in athletics.
“If anything”, Eaton said, referring to Bolt, “he has provided a platform for all the other young aspiring athletes to launch from”, adding, “In the years to come, I think we’ll see a lot of athletes who were inspired by Usain Bolt”. “All that work just crumbles”.
“There you go. I’m the greatest”, he said. He is expected to run in the 2017 World Championships and it appears likely he’ll call it a career after that.
“It’s mixed feelings. It’s a relief, because it’s really stressful, I’ve had injury problems, but I’m also sad that I have to leave, this is my last one”.
In the lead-up to the Olympics, Bolt insisted the time is approaching. “I mean, considering how big our country is I’m not too surprised”, she said with a laugh. It when down to one-thousandth of a second which is hard to take.
Mike Rodgers passed the baton to Justin Gatlin on the first exchange, but it happened just outside of the exchange zone. I’m proud of myself and I have to give thanks to the guys [team-mates Asafa Powell, Nickel Ashmeade and Yohan Blake]. The world’s greatest athlete @usainbolt delivers again.
When he was just 8 years old, Ashton Eaton said, the sprinter Michael Johnson had inspired him.
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“I wasn’t happy with the time when I crossed the line, but I’m excited I got the medal, that’s the key thing”.
