With Jamaica winning the men’s 4x100m relay gold, Bolt’s ninth Olympic gold, the sprinter bid farewell to the Olympic Games, declaring himself the “greatest”.
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Jamaica’s Usain Bolt competes in the men’s 4×100-meter relay final during the athletics competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 19, 2016.
Bolt and his compatriots, Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmease, bossed the race to win in 37.27 seconds.
He grabbed the baton almost even with the United States team, but pulled away easily in the homestretch to give Jamaica its third consecutive 4×100 gold.
A third straight 100m, 200m and 4x100m clean sweep put Bolt alongside Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi on nine track and field Olympic golds.
The 29-year-old Bolt, in his fourth Olympics, knew the uncertainties of the sport, especially in the exchange of baton in the relay.
The Kingston native applied the afterburners and pulled away to the finish line way ahead of the chasing pack. The only Olympian to win more is US swimmer Michael Phelps, who upped his record to 23 with five golds in Rio.
Bolt, who put Jamaica on the map by setting record after recordnow ends his stay in Rio, leaving an undisputed legacy in Olympic history. It’s been a great career. While many fans are still stunned by the record-making feat, there is one person that never once doubted his ability to get the unprecedented “treble” – his girlfriend, Kasi Bennett.
It was a golden goodbye for Usain Bolt who led his Jamaican teammates to victory in the men’s 4×100 relay. It has won five of the six sprinting gold medals, with Elaine Thompson taking gold in both 100m and 200m.
“I’ve got to do it twice at these Olympic Games and they kind of got robbed of that experience”, De Grasse said of his teammates.
“My team came through for me tonight”, added Bolt, who turns 30 on Sunday.
“I told the guys that if they didn’t come through for me I’d beat them up!” “But it’s been a great career, I’ve done great, I’m just happy with myself”.
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“A great sprinter”, said American Tyson Gay who, once upon a time, was Bolt’s biggest challenger. The champion has won gold in all the events he participated in since the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Ashmeade, meanwhile, now has an Olympic gold to accompany the World Championship titles he helped Jamaica to in 2013 and 2015.
