His place in that pantheon is probably already assured but Bolt will return to the track for the 4x100m relay on Friday – two days before his 30th birthday – looking to complete the sweep of all three sprint titles at three successive Olympics.
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For the 29-year-old Jamaican inspiration, there is just the small matter of filling in the boxes.
The day was filled with other exceptional performances, including Ryan Crouser setting an Olympic record of 22.52 meters (73 feet, 101/2 inches) in winning the shotput, with compatriot Joe Kovacs second at 21.78 (71-51/2), Kate Grace of Santa Monica running a personal-best 1:58.79 in the 800-meter semifinals to advance to Saturday’s final, and the US men’s 400-meter relay team advancing to Saturday’s final with the top qualifying time, 37.65 seconds.
Andre de Grasse of Canada, who won bronze behind Bolt in the 100 meters, finished second in 20.02 seconds to claim his second sprint medal of the Games and establish himself as the heir apparent to the Sprint King.
He waved his hand dismissively, but was happy to collect another gold.
The Jamaican simply laid waste to the best of the rest in the sprinting world to win his eighth track gold medal in what he has said will be his last individual race at the Olympics before his retirement next year.
His compatriot Dalilah Muhammad took gold in the women’s 400m hurdles, holding off a fast-finishing Sara Slott Peterson of Denmark.
Before most of the crowd had arrived, the U.S. women’s 4x100m relay team, disqualified in the morning’s heat but reinstated on appeal, took the opportunity to record a qualifying time for tomorrow’s final in a re-run involving just themselves. He held off Boniface Mucheru Tumuti of Kenya (47.78) and Cuba-born Yasmani Copello of Turkey (47.92).
“To win two Olympic golds in a row like Daley Thompson is very special”.
Gemili was left shattered by missing out on a medal by three thousandths of a second.
Ashley Spencer of the U.S. claimed bronze in a personal best 53.72. The Czech Republic’s dual world champion Zuzana Hejnova finished fourth in 53.92.
Ryan Crouser broke the Olympic record as the USA grabbed gold and silver in the men’s shot put.
The 23-year-old won with a best effort of 22.52m, breaking the previous record of 22.47m set by Germany’s Ulf Timmermann at the 1988 Games in Seoul.
It was a one-two for the United States with Joe Kovacs taking silver and New Zealand’s Thomas Walsh winning bronze.
Eaton had led the decathlon from start to finish in a competition where Kevin Mayer of France made a late charge to silver, beating the defending champion in the discus, pole vault and javelin throw.
Silver went to the early leader, Sunette Viljoen of South Africa, with 64.80m. Canada’s Damian Warner was third with 8,666.
“I wanted to run a faster time”, he said. The jury agreed and scheduled a rerun; the same four women – Tianna Bartoletta ran leadoff and Morolake Akinosun ran the anchor leg – qualified for Friday’s final by posting the top time, 41.77 seconds, running alone in Lane 2.
The Americans protested, claiming Brazilian Franciela Krasucki bumped Felix before the handover.
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In a statement, officials said the race referee deemed Felix to have been obstructed after reviewing video replays.
