But as Jamaican legend Usain Bolt returned to Rio to defend his title, many Americans remember the one moment in London when Bolt reminded the world what the Olympic spirit was all about.
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“I went down and I was like, ‘What’s happening?”
Bolt is seeking to create more history by becoming the first athlete to win the 100m, 200m and 4X100m at three consecutive Olympic Games, having claimed all three at Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games.
Then Bolt overtook Gatlin and started celebrating – pointing at his chest with his thumb – and crossed the finish line.
Team GB’s best medal hope in the 200m is Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, who ran 19.95 in May to become the second fastest ever Brit in the 200m.
“I’ve recovered from the 100m”, he insisted.
“I was a little exhausted, but it was a morning session and I’m not a very good morning person, ” Bolt said. Tomorrow [in the semi-finals] I will show much better progress because I will have to run faster, so I’m looking forward to that. He briefly put his hands together, as if in thanks.
Usain Bolt has vowed to push for the world record in the 200m final at the Olympic Games in Rio.
“It’s the morning session and I’m not a morning person”.
He qualified in second in his heat with a time of 20.24, coming in behind Canadian Andre De Grasse, who took the bronze medal in the 100m final.
New York, August 16: Did boisterous celebrations over an Olympic victory by the world’s fastest man lead to a false alarm about gunfire and a panicked evacuation of Kennedy Airport here? Somebody said if I win these three gold medals I would be immortal and I kind of liked it.
“This part between the 800m and the heats of the 1500m was always going to be the most hard part in qualifying for the semi-finals of the latter”.
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Also qualifying for Thursday’s semi-finals, with the final scheduled for Saturday, are Kiprop’s team-mate Ronald Kwemoi as well as Morocco’s world bronze medallist Abdalaati Iguider, Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman and American duo Ben Blankenship and Matther Centrowitz.
