He hasn’t tasted defeat in the event at a world championship or Olympic competition since 2008 – unless you count his false-start disqualification in the 100 meters at the 2011 world championships. “I’ve served that time”, he said.
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The Jamaican, who turns 30 on the day of the closing ceremony in Rio, had the race well in hand with 20 metres to run. I refused, I was like, ‘We didn’t do anything wrong, so I’m not getting down on the ground’.
“I was never anxious that I’d lose this”, said Sumgong.
“So we didn’t get any time to rest, to put our feet up and get the lactic [acid] out”.
A few minutes earlier, South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk eclipsed what many thought was the most-unbreakable record in the book – Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old mark of 43.18 seconds in 400 meters.
The race was not ideal, he said afterwards amid the usual media frenzy, but he had achieved his aim of winning gold.
America’s Justin Gatlin finished second in 9.89 seconds, and Canada’s Andre De Grasse finished third in 9.91.
“My legs felt a little exhausted from back to back races. However I just focused on my job and got it done”, Bolt said. “I just wanted to get it done”, said Bolt.
“The whole issue was over a decade ago. The thing is, we just came off an awesome performance and I think all of us are ready to enjoy that a little bit after a long time of working really hard”. I get that people want to see a rivalry between me and Usain.
“It’s not something you really want in your sport and I totally understand where Mack’s coming from, it’s a place of frustration”. I’m a competitor, he’s a competitor. The victory lap he took carrying a stuffed Olympic mascot was an added bonus, a chance for the crowd to stick around and show him some love. “I have a team personally who are always looking out for everything”.
“We all have respect for each other”, Gatlin said of himself and his fellow competitors.
“Stay tuned, two more to go”, Bolt said. “I’m not going to wait until 2020, I’m going to do it now”. The crowd love the energy.
“I was surprised”, Bolt said.
The Jamaican superstar stormed to his third straight 100m crown and a seventh overall to keep his dream of an unprecedented triple triple alive.
American Justin Gatlin, fastest in the world this year with 9.80 and likely to be Bolt’s main threat in the final, also looked strong and controlled his semi-final in clocking 9.94.
The treble was duly completed in the 4x100m relay in a world record 36.84sec.
Bolt won’t be back to defend his Olympic 100m gold in four years, but has ended this chapter of his incredible career in style.
Lochte, a 12-time Olympic medalist, won one gold medal here in Rio as part of the 4×200 freestyle relay.
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‘After the semi-final I felt extremely good.
