World’s fastest man, Usain Bolt has completed his unprecedented “triple treble” by winning gold in the 4X100m relay race at #Rio2016.
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Dead heat, it turned out. “As long as we got the baton round, it was never in doubt”.
It completed the incomprehensible triple-triple – three golds in three Olympics – and was his ninth overall, equaling the record for track and field shared by Carl Lewis and Finnish legend Paavo Nurmi.
Nesta Carter ran the first leg for Jamaica’s 4x100m team when Bolt anchored them to a gold medal inside Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium at the Olympic Games where he announced himself as a sprinting superstar.
Never shy for great words Bolt commented: “There you go”.
“There you go, I am the greatest”, Bolt told reporters.
“I’m going to miss the crowd, the energy and the competition”, he said.
While the rest of the world will miss him and the greatness he brought to the track each and every time out, his competitors surely won’t. For me, it’s mission accomplished.
“I have to make a new bucket list now”.
The embarrassing imbroglio offended the Olympic hosts and overshadowed the US swimmers’ dominance in Rio, relegating to the margins Michael Phelps’ medal haul in his own Olympic farewell.
“Yeah, this is the last one, guys”, said the champion, who turns 30 on Sunday, the same day the Olympic cauldron is extinguished. The Jamaican runner was part of the relay team which won gold and made history at London 2012.
It’s not as if the Americans didn’t have the plan and the know-how to defeat Bolt and the Jamaicans.
Undaunted despite running in the lane beside Bolt, Aska Cambridge anchored Japan in an Asian record time of 37.60. Japan finished in second to claim a surprise silver medal in a timing of 37.60 seconds.
Canada’s Andre De Grasse took silver in 20.02sec, just ahead of France’s Christophe Lemaitre, who nicked bronze in 20.12.
Asafa Powell gave Jamaica an unbelievable start on American Mike Rodgers. “We didn’t expect to see them up there. It’s the pressure of trying to beat the Jamaicans”.
The USA team were told it was because Gatlin received the baton too early from Rodgers in the first handover, but they are now appealing against the decision. Jamaica now run tings, as they say on the island.
“It’s hard work, sweat and sacrifice”, he said on what was behind his achievements. It’s like we have this dark cloud over us that we can’t shake. “To be DQed, it sucks”. “Personally I think this is my last 200 but my coach may beg to differ”. Usain Bolt isn’t just the fastest man alive, he’s a very good team player. “It shows that they are no longer following their Zero Tolerance policy”.
If Carter is confirmed as a drugs cheat, it would present the devastating possibility of all four men in that team losing their gold medal. “It’s like putting someone who has formerly served time for fraud in charge of your bank”. She had been through injury, the inability to defend her 200-meter title because she didn’t qualify at the USA trials and a near disqualification in the relay heats. Bromell fell across the finish line with an injured Achilles and a third-place finish.
It was an impressive comeback after near disaster on Thursday, when Felix dropped the baton after being bumped by a Brazilian runner.
In hockey, Great Britain won the women’s final. Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce closed fast but not almost enough. The heavy gold-medal favorites move on to play a Serbian team that gave the US some trouble during pool play.
“One day, I’m going to have to meet Daley, shake his hand and thank him for giving me something to chase after”. I threw up twice out there.
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“I’m getting older and my body is ageing”. “I am just happy, proud of myself”.
