“He’s one of the best and I don’t know what else he has to prove”. With the stadium emptying, Bolt kneeled down, brought his hands out to his sides and soaked in one last burst of applause. “I’m sad but I’m happy too”, he explained.
Advertisement
There is no doubt that Bolt has transformed his sport, if only by nearly single-handedly displacing the United States as the superpower of men’s sprinting.
He now also leaves the Olympic stage as just the second man to win the 4x100m three times. Bolt is now a flawless nine-for-nine in Olympic finals.
“I’m going to stay up late and have fun”. “It’s been wonderful and I really appreciate you guys”.
The U.S. women have retained the 4×100-meter relay title and helped Allyson Felix win her record fifth Olympic gold medal. Trayvon Bromell’s dip for the line was so aggressive that he tumbled over but the U.S. still thought they were settling for bronze in 37.62.
The runner boasts nine gold medals after Jamaica clocked a time of 37.27 seconds on Friday.
On why the USA, men’s team had trouble getting the baton: “I think they’re more focused on beating us than actually running a proper race”.
“It was a nightmare, especially at the end of the lap”, said Gatlin. “It was a nightmare”. You work so hard with your team mates, guys you compete against nearly all year long.
“It’s hard work, sweat and sacrifice”, he said on what was behind his achievements.
Japan was a surprise medalist, claiming silver after running a surprising 37.60, while the United States of America, who had originally gained bronze, were later disqualified.
After completing his “triple-triple”, Bolt spared himself no compliments, stating: “There you go”.
The USA retained the women’s 4x100m relay title, finishing in 41.01 seconds ahead of the Jamaican team, which contained 100m and 200m champion Elaine Thompson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
“It’s just have mixed feelings now, but it’s been a great career”.
“I accomplished what I wanted to and it’s a joy”. The world’s sprinting star has declared Rio his last Olympics. “I’ve done, like, 500”. But I’m definitely going to miss the crowd and the energy and just the competition. “It’s been a great career”.
“I have a saying: “Nothing is impossible”.
Jamaica against America was a highly-anticipated match up and Powell, the former world record holder, got things off to a strong start against American lead-off Mike Rodgers and Yohan Blake who came fourth in the individual 100m and is a silver medalist from 2012, matched up against Justin Gatlin and kept things evenly paced. I enjoy pressure and I live for these moments.
The sprinter has so much faith in his ability, that even before winning the third gold, Bolt knew he would get it done.
Now, though, many are convinced that Bolt will go for a “triple-quadruple” in Tokyo in 2020.
Advertisement
“But I feel like we’re on the right track, the bad times are behind us. 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.
