Usain Bolt declared himself on course for sporting immortality after succeeding in the first part of his Olympic “triple triple” bid by defeating Justin Gatlin to win a third successive 100 metres gold in Rio.
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He pushed his total to seven Olympic gold medals, with a chance for two more – in the 200 and 4×100 relay – later in the week.
“After the semi-final I felt extremely good”.
Ben Youssef Meite also went through with an Ivory Coast national record time of 9.97.
Bolt, 29, ran 9.81 seconds in his final Olympics to replicate his success at Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
Jamaican legend Bolt swept aside the rest of the field, including United States athlete Justin Gatlin, with a time of 9.81 seconds to secure the top prize on Monday. I am really happy, though I expected to go faster.
He said he was surprised at the hostile reception for his rival Gatlin, who was banned in 2001 and again in 2006 for testing positive for banned substances. Note to Bolt: we already knew that.
Bolt, in Brazil to complete the “triple triple” of Olympic sprint titles, admitted he was “sluggish” out of the blocks, but was still comfortable enough to look across to check his position by halfway and shut down well before the line. “I came to prove I’m one of the greats”, he said. He was never going to be able to beat a healthy Usain Bolt.
“I came here to achieve three gold medals”.
The boos from the Brazilian crowd were the latest ugly chapter in Gatlin’s saga. “Evil” story line that’s been pitched by the media for all these years, and they let the American have it.
The most traditional of Olympic sports saw its first winners today, with Cuba’s Ismael Borrero Molina beating Japan’s Shinobu Ota in the men’s Greco-Roman 59kg final to take gold, following up his victory in the same event in the 2015 world championships.
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The only time the team from Great Britain has won more medals on one day other than Sunday was when it was the host for the Olympics.
