If not, for years people will be talking about this man’s greatness and his historic eight gold medals from three Olympics.
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A banner red, white and blue day at track and field ended Thursday night in a blaze of yellow-and-black at the Rio Games.
He struck his signature lightning bolt pose to a huge cheer from the crowd and draped Brazilian and Jamaican flags over his shoulders as he performed his lap of honor to chants of “Usain Bolt!”.
Bolt, 29, already had topped those two en route to the 100-metre title at these Rio Games, winning that race also for a third straight time. “I’m trying to be one of the greatest. Be among Ali and Pele”, Bolt said after the race.
“But I obviously have to continue to work hard and always bring my “A” game because it’s not going to be easy”. With Thursday’s race, Bolt has dipped under 20 seconds a record 32 times, the same number of sub-20 clockings as Lewis and Michael Johnson, the event’s previous world record-holder, combined. All that’s left for Bolt to complete the “triple-triple” is to claim top spot in the men’s 4 x 100m relay final tonight/Saturday morning at 2.35am.
Sprint events around the world have of late (and when I say late, I mean at least a decade) been subjects of utter Jamaican domination. Bartoletta, a 2005 world champion who gave up the sport as she struggled with injuries, secured victory with her penultimate leap of 7.17m to knock Reese out of the gold medal standings.
But, oh, how that 200 record beckoned. His last, energy-sapping burst stopped France’s Kevin Mayer from a chance at a stunning victory.
Sara Slott Petersen of Denmark took silver in 53.55sec while Muhammad’s team-mate Ashley Spencer claimed bronze in 53.72.
“To win two Olympic golds in a row like Daley Thompson is very special”, Eaton said of the British decathlete who won in 1980 and ’84. His wife, Canada’s Brianne Theisen-Eaton, took bronze in the heptathlon on Tuesday. Mathias is the other decathlete to defend an Olympic title. De Grasse hails from Markham.
Four of his six throws in the final were farther than silver medalist Joe Kovac’s best.
Why would he? He came here to Rio de Janeiro knowing these Olympics would be his last dance.
“I knew it was going to be hard to break the record because when I came off the corner my legs decided, ‘now listen, we’re not going to go any faster.’ So I wasn’t fully happy but I’m happy that I got the gold medal”.
Kerron Clement had earlier launched the U.S. gold blitz in the men’s 400m hurdles, coming home in 47.73 to claim gold from Kenya’s Boniface Tumuti. Clement won in 47.73 seconds, just 0.05 seconds ahead of Boniface Mucheru of Kenya.
For Ashmeade, who was a member of the Beijing and Moscow World Championships gold medal-winning 4x100m relay team, continuing the country’s dominance in the event is of utmost importance. Teammate Ashley Spencer won the bronze medal. “I couldn’t really tell what happened”.
“Having that lane three coming off the turn, I felt pain in the last 20 metres, I looked over and tried to hold on and do the best I could”. In many ways, Friday’s (Saturday NZT) 4×100 relay feels like an inevitable exclamation point.
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The US was originally eliminated in the heats after Allyson Felix failed to hand the baton to teammate English Gardener following a collision with another runner from Brazil. In the qualifying heats, Allyson Felix said she was bumped by a Brazilian runner and the USA advanced after running a solo time trial.
