But then Bolt – the Jamaican who just deals in speed – roared around the bend at the Olympic Stadium to win the 200 meters in 19.78 seconds, completing act two of his three-part quest for gold and history in Rio.
Advertisement
Ashton Eaton stayed on top of the leader board for almost all of the two-day, ten event test of speed, strength and stamina.
In news from the Summer Games in Brazil, Oregon’s Ashton Eaton has successfully defended his Olympic decathlon title Thursday night.
His racked up bests of 10.46sec in the 100m, 7.84m in the long jump, 14.74m in the shot put, 2.01m in the high jump, 46.07sec in the 400m, 13.58sec in the 110m hurdles, 45.49m in the discus, 5.20m in the pole vault, 59.77m in the javelin before clocking 4:23.33 in the 1500m.
Look how spent Eaton looked as he crossed the finish line, securing his second straight gold in the event.
Eaton had briefly darted away from the decathlon to congratulate 400-meter-hurdles gold medalist Kerron Clement as his teammate knelt exhausted in the midday sun after winning the event, an indicator of the feel-good emotion surging through the USA track team right now.
That must be one competitive household.
Alongside Eaton’s triumph, Ryan Crouser led an American one-two in the shot put, also setting a new Olympic record of 22.52 meters to win his first major title from world champion Joe Kovacs.
But Eaton moved past Mayer with 200 metres of the 1500m to go to make sure of the win.
Eaton was one of four American athletes to take gold in track and field events Thursday.
The United States also swept the men’s and women’s 400-meters hurdles starting in the morning with Kerron Clement finally getting the gold medal he wanted.
Eaton had briefly darted away from the decathlon to congratulate Clement as his teammate knelt exhausted in the midday sun after winning the hurdles, an indicator of the good feelings surging through the US track team right now. “I felt somebody”, Clement said.
On Thursday, Eaton produced a solid performances throughout the day, though he was a bit off his best times and marks. “Ur respect is hard earned”, Eaton tweeted, defending himself and his wife.
When a Canadian, Damian Warner took the lead in the opening 100 on Wednesday, Eaton immediately responded by taking the lead on the second event.
The Oregon alum shared his victory with wife Brianne-Theisen Eaton, who won a bronze medal in the heptathlon for Canada this week.
Advertisement
“I’m glad that I got to watch every second of it and she’s a massive inspiration for me”, said Ashton. “For us to have done this together is …” and then he sighed, lost for words.
