Not to be outdone, his fiancee Laura Trott secured two gold medals of her own in the team pursuit and omnium.
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Rio de Janeiro – Rio de Janeiro returned to the cold reality of Brazil’s political crisis and recession on Monday after bringing a carnivalesque curtain down on its Olympics festival and passing the torch to Tokyo.
Bolt, 29, made history when he sealed the sprint “triple triple” in his final Games, his third consecutive 100m, 200m and 4x100m sweep.
After having broken his wrist just four months ago, Connor Fields battled back to win the first-ever US gold medal in BMX.
But even as Olympics highlight reels continued to loop on Brazilian television, the nation’s attention began to shift back to the capital, Brasilia, where Rousseff will go on trial before the Senate Thursday on charges of fudging the national budget to make the numbers look better. Feyisa Lelisa of Ethiopia finished second for the silver, and American Galen Rupp took bronze in his second marathon and Olympic debut.
“This experience has been the dream of a lifetime for me”, said USA gymnast and closing ceremony flagbearer Simone Biles, who won five medals, four of them gold, in her first Olympics.
Bolt’s haul of nine golds is the joint highest among Olympic athletics, putting him equal with U.S. sprinter and long jumper Carl Lewis and Finnish long-distance runner Paavo Nurmi.
It was also the first time a refugee team competed alongside the 206 National Olympic Committees.
Scoring more than 100 points in six of its eight games, the 2016 squad became the most prolific Olympic scoring team ever.
A catalogue of outstanding achievements in Rio included Britain’s Mo Farah, who captured a “double double” of 5 000m and 10 000m titles.
Led by Sakshi Malik, the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal whose bronze opened the medal count of two including a silver, the country’s contingent also braved the rains as she stood tall waving the tri-colour.
But memories of swimming legend Phelps and the “immortal” Bolt will linger after they set the 2016 Olympics alight.
For the first time, the US women’s gymnastics team defended its Olympic title in the team competition, scoring 184.897 points, which was more than eight points better than second-place Russian Federation.
Great Britain’s record-breaking Olympic performance provided the British public with many moments of pure elation.
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The athletics programme produced three world records, including stunning runs in the 400m by South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk and women’s 10,000m by Almaz Ayana that both erased marks set last century.
