He is also favored to win a third straight gold medal at 200 meters and yet another as the most vital member of Jamaicas 4×100-meter relay team.
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“That’s the first time I’ve gone into a stadium and they’ve started to boo”, Bolt said. It was his seventh Olympic gold medal and all, with plenty to suggest he’ll leave Rio with two more – completing the hat-trick of Olympic sprint trebles he’d so boldly set out to do.
With the crowd roaring his every move – and booing his rival Gatlin – the champion stormed over in 9.81 to become the first man to win three consecutive 100m titles. Van Niekerk’s previous personal record was 43.48.
Still there was no denying the headline act, and Bolt certainly lived up to that billing.
“Man, at the end of the day being the oldest guy in the field and to say I’m going to be the oldest guy to get on the podium, it’s a victory within itself”, said the 34-year-old.
“Do I think people who have been caught for doping offences should be on the team?”
“It was brilliant. I didn’t go so fast but I’m so happy I won. That’s what I was here to prove, that I want to be among the greatest”.
The big victor on Sunday was Great Britain, which added five golds and three silver medals to its coffers for the 2016 Summer Olympics, bringing its total in Rio to 38 medals – 15 gold, 16 silver and seven bronze. Canada’s Andre de Grasse took bronze in 9.91.
The Jamaican sprinter’s swan song in the Olympic 100 meters was a pedestrian-by-his-standards 9.81-second sprint, capped off by pointing to his chest a step before the finish line.
“I expected better”, Bolt said of himself, and his start, in a post-race interview with NBC.
He then tested positive for testosterone in 2006, a year after winning the 100m and 200m double at the World Championships.
Bolt admitted afterwards he was “surprised” by the crowd’s reaction. I’ve never heard or seen that happen before.
So did many others in track and in other sports who later ran afoul of the rules. I was here to do my job. After the semi-final my confidence went way up, because I executed that race so well. No man ever has defeated the top three seeds on the way to a gold, but del Potro sure came close before winding up with a silver. But I’ve seen it on the replay, and it actually looks worse than it felt, in the race.
But the Jamaican’s latest triumph erases any lingering doubts that he deserves to be ranked alongside the likes of Muhammad Ali, Pele and Michael Jordan as the kind of once-in-a-generation athlete who transcend their sports.
“I just said, ‘Take your time and chip away, “‘ he said.
The injury had forced Bolt to skip the national Olympic trials in Jamaica.
“Well it was very hard to run fast, because the turnaround time was really, really short”.
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Bolt admitted his performance in the final was far from flawless and blamed a timetable he branded “ridiculous” and “stupid” for his failure to go quicker, with the short-turnaround after the semi-final leaving little time to recover and go again. “He shows up and pushes you to run fast and be at your best at all times”.
