The U.S. finished the race third but endured yet another relay debacle – disqualified because leadoff runner Mike Rodgers was ruled to have passed the baton to Justin Gatlin before the start of the first exchange zone. He said it once more as Friday night turned into Saturday morning.
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For Bolt, it was a particular pleasure to sign off with former world record holder Asafa Powell, his training partner Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmeade as part of a team representing their country.
“That’s insane! I don’t know what to say, hey, I’m proud of these guys man that’s all I can say”, exclaimed Haynes, moments after learning of the DQ. “Simple mistakes always cost us”.
The American men were third across the line, and they circled the track with their giant flags just as the women’s team had minutes before, celebrating.
In the absence of world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva, who announced her retirement on Friday having been among the many Russian track and field athletes banned from Rio 2016, Greece’s Ekaterini Stefandini edged out Sandi Morris of the US to take gold in the women’s pole vault.
The world’s fastest man is now a flawless nine-for-nine in Olympic finals. Makenzie Fischer and Rachel Fattal each had two goals for the Americans, who stretched their win streak to 22 games and outscored their opponents 73-32 at Rio. Even though they were running from lane one, the USA women’s 4×100 foursome had a much smoother trip around the track, defending their Olympic title with a time of 41.01 seconds, a full 0.35 seconds ahead of the second-place Jamaican squad. I’ve proven to the world I am the best in the sport.
Jamaica, with Bolt as the anchor, has dominated the event in recent years. The Americans dropped the baton in the preliminaries but proved that they were bumped on the handoff.
He became the first man to win three consecutive Olympic 100m gold medals on Sunday.
“Hell, we already did the victory lap and then when we talked to TV, they told us”.
All week, when asked a hundred different ways if this really is his last Olympics, he kept saying yes. “I am ready and I am waiting to see what (the media) write tomorrow and after that”. “If this was any other meet, any other place or time we get treatment and cancel out”.
Greece’s Ekaterini Stefanidi won the women’s pole vault Friday after virus-stricken defending champion Jenn Suhr crashed out.
In the women’s 5,000 meters, Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia, who won gold in the 10,000 meters in world record time, fell short in her attempt for double gold.
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Her American teammate Sandi Morris managed to pick up the silver medal. Bolt is Bolt, but they also have Elaine Thompson on the women’s side, who won the 100 and 200 in Bolt-esque fashion, winning going away in both events. Cheruiyot set an Olympic record with a time of 14:26.17.
