Bolt’s victory celebrations go on forever, just like a good party should.
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In his final Olympics, the Jamaican superstar streaked to his unprecedented third consecutive gold medal in the 100 meters, coming from behind halfway through to win in 9.80 seconds and cementing his legacy as the greatest sprinter in track and field’s Olympic history by again dominating the sport’s marquee event. 2004 Olympic champion Gatlin qualified for the final with a time of 9.94 seconds.
Gatlin, who has served drug bans twice in his career, was greeted by boos and jeers as he entered the stadium – something Bolt hadn’t experience before. “I wanted to run faster but with the turnaround time, we normally have two hours, but we had one hour and 20 minutes, it was challenging. I’m here to perform and do what I have to do”. “I did what I had to”.
Andre de Grasse of Canada took bronze with a time of 9.91 seconds.
The South African smashed the world record held by track and field legend Michael Johnson for almost 17 years to take the gold ahead of defending champion Kirani James.
On the boos for Gatlin, he said: “I was surprised”. “I didn’t go so fast but I’m so happy I won”.
The man who burst onto the scene with his hot-dogging world record eight years ago in Beijing turns 30 after these Olympics and says these will be his last.
He won his record-setting third straight title in track’s featured event and his seventh Olympic gold.
When Gatlin walked out for the 100 final in Rio de Janeiro, the boos resounded around the Olympic Stadium because of that.
The time was a long way off his 2009 world record of 9.58 but that was never the issue at stake.
By contrast, 29-year-old Jamaican Bolt smiled and waved to a crowd that eagerly complied with his gestures requesting cheers or, just before the starter’s gun, silence.
Bolt ran out to roars from the crowd, spreading his arms wide as he lapped up the acclaim.
He then tested positive for testosterone in 2006, a year after winning the 100m and 200m double at the World Championships.
Other than the 2011 world championships, when he was disqualified for a false start, Bolt has won every other global championship individual sprint race since 2008.
This is also the first step towards Bolt’s target of repeating his 100m, 200m and 4x100m victories at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games.
Gatlin had recorded the fastest time of the year, clocking 9.80 last month, while Bolt injured a hamstring at the end of June.
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Chants of “Bolt, Bolt, Bolt” rang out as the athletes waited to take to their blocks. But this is what we train for. “I told you guys I was going to do it”, Bolt said.
