By the time the field lined up for the final event, the 1,500m, Mayer was still in with a chance of victory, albeit a slim one, needing to beat the American by seven seconds to win gold.
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Competing in an individual event at the Olympics for the final time, Bolt surged clear of his rivals around the bend on Thursday before keeping the chasing pack at bay to triumph in 19.78 seconds, ahead of Andre De Grasse and Christophe Lemaitre.
United States’ Ashton Eaton celebrates winning the gold medal in the men’s decathlon.
Also, the USA women’s 400 relay team ran alone in a race that looked just like a practice session, with one mighty difference: A place in the Olympic final was on the line.
United States’ Morolake Akinosun runs the last leg in a women’s 4×100-meter relay rerun after dropping the baton in the race in the morning during the athletics competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics at the Olympic stadium.
Eaton, 28, has now won successive Olympic and world titles to confirm his status at the best all-around athlete in the world.
Not much. But the ever-gracious Eaton is OK with that.
“When I wrestle, I don’t think my goal is to step on the mat and look to see if I’m equal with someone”, she said.
“I’m exhausted right now, but I’m very happy I was able to pull it out”, Warner said. “You can’t write a story like that”. He’d also finished second in the event-opening 100m, a scant 0.16 behind Warner and the only time he trailed in the two-day competition.
Field events haven’t gotten much airtime in Rio, so it’s easy to miss the stack of medals the US has accumulated in the throwing and jumping events.
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt taking home his third consecutive gold medal in the men’s 200 meter – his facile win looking like a foregone conclusion two or three strides into the race.
And while the viewing public may recognize Eaton as the guy who gets the most face time in that one commercial that has aired roughly once an hour since the opening ceremony, the world’s greatest athlete will continue to live in relative anonymity among American sports fans.
Today’s 400-meter relay final is all that’s left now between Bolt and a historic triple of three gold medals at three straight Olympics. They finished second in their heat behind Japan. “There was some pressure to make it to the finals”.
In a dazzling display of his all-around athleticism, American Ashton Eaton ran faster, jumped higher and threw farther than his decathlon rivals to become one of the few men in Olympic history to repeat as victor of the 10-event competition.
Dalilah Muhammad kept the US total ticking on with gold in the women’s 400-meter hurdles and Ashley Spencer added a bronze, with another American 1-2 only just thwarted by Denmark’s Sara Slott Petersen.
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Kerron Clement flashing a toothpaste-endorsement-level smile after grabbing gold for the U.S.in the men’s 400-meter hurdles.
