A track and field enthusiast from Jamaica but living and working in Canada, he traveled to the Olympics in London and watched on in awe as Usain Bolt walked away with three gold medals for the second Games in a row.
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“There you go. I’m the greatest”, said Bolt, who kissed the finish line on the Olympic Stadium track on his final Games appearance. Caster Semenya of South Africa won the Olympic title in the 800 meters with no one close to challenging her. Mo Farah of Britain became the first runner in 40 years to win back-to-back long-distance doubles at the Olympics by taking gold in the men’s 5,000 meters.
The Jamaican is preparing to exit with athletics fighting to restore credibility after a year dominated by doping and corruption scandals. “As soon as I got the baton, I knew I was going to win this one, because there’s no one on the anchor leg that can outrun me”.
His final race was a classic in which the Jamaican relay team finished a clear 0.33 of a second ahead of the Japanese contingent in second place.
Bolt’s team-mate Yohan Blake said the other Jamaican members of the relay squad had been determined to deliver a gold. “As long as we got the baton round, it was never in doubt”.
Colombia’s Mariana Pajon defended the title she won in London in 2012, becoming the first Colombian to win two consecutive Olympic gold medals Friday. I’ve proven to the world that I’m the greatest in the sport so for me it’s just mission accomplished pretty much.
“I’m always going to bring my charisma to the sport”, Bolt added.
The International Olympic Committee re-tested 454 samples from Beijing, but so far only 14 Russians and one Spaniard have been named among 31 athletes whose sampled came back positive. That’s what gets them going, the hype.
And when the Rio Games has ended and the torch has been put out, Bolt’s legacy as the world’s greatest sprinter – and perhaps the greatest Olympian of all time – will have been firmly cemented.
“I just have mixed feelings now”, he told reporters. I will definitely miss the sport, miss the Olympics because it’s the biggest stage.
Japan set an Asian record to take the silver in 37.60. With his weakest point – the start from a crouching position taken out of the equation – there was always going to be only one victor, Bolt, and Jamaica in this case.
Australian athletes detained by police in Rio de Janeiro after a flap over credentials at an Olympic basketball game have been released and a team official says they will pay a fine.
On why the USA, men’s team had trouble getting the baton: “I think they’re more focused on beating us than actually running a proper race”.
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His time of 19.78 seconds Thursday in Rio was more than a half second off his own world record, but still almost a quarter of a second better than second-place finisher Andre De Grasse of Canada.
