Usain Bolt secured a sweep of the three men’s sprint titles for a third successive Olympics when Jamaica successfully defended its 4×100 metres relay title in 37.27 seconds on Friday.
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But the true highlight of August 19’s track and field events will culminate at 9:35pm EST when the great Usain Bolt, 29, runs the anchor position in the men’s 4×100 relay, which after his two gold medals in the 100m and 200m dashes, pretty much guarantees the Jamaican sprinter his third gold in the games.
There was better news for the USA women’s sprint relay team, who retained their title, in the process Allyson Felix becoming the first woman to win five Olympic gold medals in athletics.
Along for Bolt’s final trip down the track were Nickel Ashmeade, training partner Yohan Blake and the Jamaican elder statesman, former world-record holder Asafa Powell. On Friday night he attempted to complete the three-Olympic symmetry with the men’s 4X100 relay.
RIO DE JANEIRO-Usain Bolt got old. “In the 4×100 I just want a gold medal”.
Nine Olympic races. Nine gold medals.
Vivian Cheruiyot set an Olympic record to win gold in the women’s 5,000 metres, coming from behind to beat favourite Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia.
“It kind of hurts right now, this one is pretty tough”, De Grasse would say, thinking his team had come up short.
Bolt, in his favoured lane six, had Lashawn Merritt, the American 400m specialist, just inside him in Thursday’s final.
Just one more race for Usain Bolt, one more victory, one more gold medal to complete what would be an essentially flawless Olympic career.
The U.S. women had a much better night.
When the relays cross the line – wait – the story might not be finished. Japan set an Asian record to take the silver in 37.60, holding off the third-place Americans by 0.02.
He glanced to his left to check out the clock just before he crossed.
“I’ll have to make a new bucket list now”, said Bolt afterwards.
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At least the after-party was great. No way was Bolt going to let it slip, not in his final race, not with destiny beckoning at the tips of those golden feet. He would walk out before the race as the other men had already practiced their starts and drifted back to the blocks, and he would stand out in the track alone and look around. The Americans have struggled with botched handoffs, including at last year’s world championship in Beijing, when they were disqualified for a baton exchange outside the allowed zone. But the 200 record was also something he really, really wanted. “For me, I got that phrase from an interview one time and it feels so good to use because I’ve done so much at the Olympics over the years”. But his silver-medal finish -.10 ahead of Lemaitre – goes well with the bronze he took in the 100 and may pronounce him as the next great sprinter once Bolt leaves the scene.
