Usain Bolt bid a blazing-fast farewell to Rio de Janeiro, and probably the Olympics altogether, Friday night with yet another anchor leg for the ages.
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The win means Bolt, who turns 30 today, has become the first man in history to complete the “triple-triple” – in the United States dubbed the “threepeat” – by winning the 100m, 200m and sprint relay titles at three consecutive Olympic Games.
A third straight 100m, 200m and 4x100m clean sweep put Bolt alongside Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi on nine track and field Olympic golds.
He ran the race with Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmeade to take the gold medal in 37.27 seconds altogether and praised his team who “came through for him”. Bolt led the Jamaican relay team to a victory in the 4X100-meters race with a time of 37.27 seconds. The U.S. women brought it home in 41.02 seconds, and lead-off runner Tianna Bartoletta was already waiting for Bowie for a wild embrace and celebrate the second-fastest time in history behind the world record that Felix and Co. set in winning gold at the London Games.
Gatlin won just a solitary silver medal in the 100 metres, failing to qualify for the 200m final and enduring more frustration when the United States were disqualified from the 4x100m relay final on Friday after finishing third.
The USA was third across the line but was later disqualified for what appeared to be a handover violation, with Canada moving up to bronze medal position.
The US relay team weren’t the only ones facing the disqualification blues as the UK’s 4x400m side were ruled out of Saturday’s final due to an erroneous baton exchange.
“I told you guys I was gonna do it”, the never-modest Bolt told NBC.
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“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. “He’s one of the best and I don’t know what else he has to prove”. It topped the bronze medal from the team of 2008 – the first men from Japan to win an Olympic track medal in a sprinting event. With a tinge of emotion, Bolt confessed he would miss the crowd and the atmosphere. They really came through for me. He will retire after next year’s World Championships in London. The Jamaican has never lost a race in the greatest sporting extravaganza in the world. “But it’s been a great career, I’ve done great, I’m just happy with myself”.
