“I’ve proved over and over again that I’ve done it clean”.
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“There you go”, he said.
“Yeah, this is the last one, guys”, said the champion, who turns 30 on Sunday, the same day the Olympic cauldron is extinguished. Bolt’s victory keeps him on course to become the first man to complete the “triple-triple”, which he will achieve if Jamaica win gold in the 4x100m relay today.
The male relay team was disqualified in Beijing (2008) and London (2012) whiles the female team has suffered a similar fate in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008).
In an interview with AFP on Friday, Coe said Bolt had transcended his sport in a way that was comparable to boxing icon Muhammad Ali.
“I’ll stay up late tonight”, Bolt said when asked how he would celebrate. Growing up in the rural village of Sherwood Content, Bolt loved cricket, soccer, or any sport he could play.
The Jamaican crossed the finish line in 37.27secs to trigger a thunderous ovation from the crowd.
It was the ninth time since 1995 that the US team has been disqualified from a relay at an Olympics or world championship.
Rodgers and Gatlin both said afterward they thought the pass was legal. But fatigue caught up with her and Cheruiyot and compatriot Hellen Obiri, who won silver, saw their chance. The Canadians were bumped up to third, 37.64.
With most of the other debates over about greatest this, greatest that, a new one might be whether Bolt now surpasses Marley as the most famous person to rock the world from the country known for sea, sun and sprints.
Team USA which had veteran athletes Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin came third in the race with a time of 37.62 seconds. Each, for instance, left London four years ago with three gold medals and a world record.
Although he alone goes down in the record books with nine gold medals, Bolt was quick to thank his teammates for their contribution. He equaled the all-time record in track and field by US legend Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi of Finland. “It’s been a great career”.
The easy answer: one of them, for sure. For Bartoletta, it was the second gold in Rio, after winning the long jump too.
The Hungarian paddler also won the 500 meters single and 500 meters double with Gabriella Szabo, who was also part of the four crew.
The field running far behind him through a thin mist – Andre de Grasse of Canada finished.24 behind and Christophe Lemaitre of France took bronze – Bolt was giving every ounce of effort, grimacing as he approached the line.
And then there is the Czech distance star Emil Zatopek.
American Gwen Jorgensen is the gold medal favorite in the women’s Olympic triathlon at Copacabana Beach on Saturday. At the 1952 Helsinki Games, Zatopek, widely considered the most innovative if not best runner of the 20th century, won the 5000m, 10,000m and marathon – that marathon his first-ever.
They had just won Jamaica’s fifth medal in the women’s 4x100m.
But the information about their disqualification however took a while thus allowing Rodgers, Gatlin, Gay and Bromell who anchored to go on a victory lap, and even pause to acknowledge the Kenyan anthem which was played for 5000m victor Vivian Cheruiyot before the information filtered through to the stadium which at that point was being emptied of its spectators.
The same first three lined it up Friday for the Americans. Trayvon Bromell drew the anchor.
The 100-metre and 200-metre champion led home a team that included Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmeade to beat Japan by a third of a second. The Kenyan team is next with 10 overall, including five golds, and Jamaica has six gold among its nine medals.
The Americans only made it into the final under the most unusual of circumstances.
He just ran away with it.
“Track and field is hard. It has been a long journey”, he said later, reflecting on his extraordinary career.
“It’s just one of those things, but the key thing is that I won and you guys know that the only thing that matters is the gold medal”.
He leaves the sport with mixed feelings, he says.
The next Usain Bolt? “I never knew this would happen when I started out”.
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“It’s a relief but I’m also sad that I have to leave”.
