RIO DE JANEIRO-Usain Bolt drew down the curtain on his brilliant Olympic career by securing a sweep of the sprint titles for a third successive Games when Jamaica successfully defended the 4×100 meters relay crown on Friday.
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Usain Bolt has landed the historic Olympic sprint triple – with a little help from his friends.
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.
The silver medal went to Japan and the bronze went to Canada, after the US were disqualified for a faulty baton change.
When Bolt received the yellow baton from Ashmeade for his final run down the straightaway, he was even, maybe a step behind, Japan’s Cambridge and Trayvon Bromell of the United States.
Amid the controversy over third place, there was yet another success to savor for the incomparable Bolt.
“I’ve put the sport on a different level”, Bolt said. “I felt good, but when I came into the straight, my body wouldn’t respond to me”. His brilliance never got old.
“I’m going to stay up late and have fun”.
“There you go. I’m the greatest”, said Bolt, after bringing an end to one of the most astonishing Olympic careers of all time.
“I’m just happy they came out and they did it for me”, Bolt said. But Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson, 24, will be competing in the same relay and she’s already nabbed gold in the 100m and 200m dashes just like her countrymate Usain, so it should be quite a competition.
No world record, but he still owns that one, too – it’s 36.84 seconds, set four years ago at the London Games.
Gatlin called the incident “a twilight zone, a nightmare – all that hard work just crumbles.”? I’m trying to be one of the greatest. I look at it as accomplishment.
Jamaica’s changeovers were far from ideal, but the baton eventually made it around to Bolt, who had to fend off unlikely competition from Japan to clinch a third Olympic sprint treble.
Bolt, the most famous Jamaican since Bob Marley, has repeatedly declined to say what he will do after he hangs up his spikes. “I have to give thanks to these guys because if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have done my treble gold medals”.
Regardless of what he does next, the charismatic Jamaican has clearly been relishing his last Olympic performance, smiling broadly as he barrels toward the finish line.
The victory was likely especially sweet for the coach, Adam Kirkorian, who had to leave the Rio Games before the opening ceremony when his brother, Blake, died suddenly.
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New Zealand’s world number one Lydia Ko, 19, hit her first ever hole-in-one to keep pressure on South Korea’s Park In-Bee, who leads by two heading into the last round of the women’s golf.
