The world’s fastest man led the Jamaican team to a spectacular victory on Friday night in the 4x100m men’s relay – earning the sprinter his ninth gold medal in total.
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Friday’s race draws the curtains on a successful career for Usain Bolt who now has nine sprint gold medals from three successive Olympic games.
Bolt’s “triple-triple” comes by way of winning the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay titles at three consecutive Olympic Games.
He combined with Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmeade to lift gold in a time of 37.27 seconds, the BBC reports.
Andre de Grasse of Canada, who pushed Bolt to the finish line in the semi-finals, finished second in 20.02 while Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre clocked 20.12 for the bronze, the same time as Adam Gemili of Great Britain.
Ryoto Yamagata had run a blistering opening leg for Japan, who won a stunning silver for their first Olympic medal in the sprint relay in 37.60, improving the Asian record they set in qualifying.
Jamaica won in 37.27 seconds with Japan in second and Canada third after the U.S. team was disqualified for an infraction in the exchange zone. And although the U.S. finished the race third, they faced yet another relay debacle disqualified as lead runner Mike Rodgers passed the baton to Justin Gatlin outside the exchange zone.
As in three Olympics, three races at each, three gold medals each time.
Spain’s Carolina Marin celebrates after defeating India’s V. Sindhu Pusarla in the women’s badminton singles gold medal match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 19, 2016.
“I’ve known them for years, I’ve seen them compete”.
Lutalo Muhammad lost out on an Olympic gold medal in the final second of a dramatic men’s 80kg taekwondo final at Rio Olympic Park. “In relays you never know what happens, so I just wanted to say goodbye”, he said.
“There’s no one on the anchor leg who can outrun me when we get the baton”.
“I will be up very late and having fun”.
But one woman, who was stood just a yard from the fastest man on the planet, did not look too fussed about being in a photo with Bolt. “I am definitely going to miss the crowd and the energy and above all, I am going to miss the competition”.
Usain Bolt will retire after next year’s world championships in London. I’ve told him he should come back for 2020.
It initially appeared that Ayana would go for a second world record, after already setting a new mark in the 10,000 on the opening morning of the track program last week.
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He said he now hoped generations to come would remember him as “one of the greatest”.
