Sunday night, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt became the first man to win three consecutive gold medals in the 100-meter dash.
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Viewership peaked from 9:15-9:30 p.m.ET at 21.4/34 with coverage of the sprinter’s breathtaking and record-setting win with a time of 9.81 seconds.
In his final Olympics, he is attempting to accomplish what he is describing as a “triple-triple”-winning three gold medals (100m, 200m and 4x100m) at three consecutive Olympics”.
The sprinter, whoon August 21, now owns the world record for the event, having run it in 19.19 seconds in 2009 – four days after he ran the world’s fastest 100-meter in 9.58 seconds.
Bolt overpowered second-place American Justin Gatlin, winning his third straight Olympic gold in the event.
In the most widely cited case of schedule shifting, the opening round of the women’s 200 was moved from Monday evening to the day session at the request of one of America’s best-known athletes, Allyson Felix, who wanted to try for gold medals both the 200 and the 400. “His pose, his stride and flawless technique, and then the big grin and the fact that he’s looking where I was standing, made that image all come together”, the Getty photographer Cameron Spencer said to Sydney Morning Herald.
The party went wild and soon afterwards, one VIP guest arrived and sang Bolt’s praises: Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness.”I’m proud of Usain Bolt, he’s a once in a century kind of athlete, he demonstrates what humankind can do with hard work and commitment”, he said as Bob Marley’s One Love boomed in the background. “I am better this season”, he said.
De Grasse won the bronze medal for Canada in Sunday’s men’s 100 meter final.
“I am lucky to be here because sometimes during the dark days I didn’t think I’d ever make it back to the Olympics”. “When I got going, got to about 50 meters, I was all right”. “But I guess some people are more vocal than others”.
He laughed when somebody suggested Gatlin could take him down over his favorite distance and repeated his claim that his own 19.19 seconds world record from 2009 was within range.
And while Bolt was celebrating with anyone he could find, Gatlin was parading the American flag around the track virtually alone. Jamaica’s Yohan Blake finished fourth with 9.93 seconds.
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The 24-year-old finished in 43.03 seconds, beating the previous record held by Michael Johnson of the U.S. by 15 hundredths of a second.
