And the ease with which he completed his hat-trick of golds in three events – 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay – in three consecutive Olympics left many wondering why the Jamaican is so keen on hanging up his “golden” boots after next year’s World Athletics Championships.
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And with Bolt having indicated he would call time on his Olympic career following the showpiece here, Blake believes he can be the one to step up and fill the void.
“I told the guys, don’t give me too much work to do, please”.
“I would never have thought I could do back-to-back-to-back Olympics”.
He missed last year’s World Championships but rebounded to qualify for the Olympics, where he narrowly missed out on a medal in the 100 metres when he finished fourth.
However, he ran the second leg in the sprint relay and said the experience had been a great one.
Its a relief. Ive done it all, Bolt said after his final Olympic race. Although the official reason Bolt provided for his intended absence from the Athletes’ Parade was that he was simply feeling lazy, The Telegraph reported that he may have been tired about many of his fellow athletes’ tendency to mob him. “Not going to miss these interviews. I’ve told him he should come back for 2020!”
Could the king of the track also be a champion in the field?
“It’s a great feeling”, said the 29-year-old. Jamaica captured gold in the men’s 4×100 meter relay, allowing the track mega star to leave Rio with gold in the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m. I’ve brought more tourists to my country, more jobs. “I’m happy for him”. “I’m going to stay up late and have fun”, said Bolt, who lingered on the track after his lap of honour, kneeling down to kiss the finish line amid chants of “Usain Bolt, Usain Bolt” echoed from the stands.
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For Bolt, it was a particular pleasure to sign off with former world record holder Asafa Powell, his training partner Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmeade as part of a team representing their country. “We had a good warm-up, we had a good chemistry in the background so we came out here with confidence just to try to win and take the record”, he stressed. “As soon as I got the baton, I knew I was going to win this one, because there’s no one on the anchor leg that can outrun me”.
