Usain Bolt has won the ninth gold medal of his career, a historic end to what he has promised will be his final Olympic Games.
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The Jamaican team of Bolt, Yohan Blake, Asafah Powell and Nickel Ashmeade clocked a time of 37.27. Jamaica won in 37.27 seconds with Japan in second and Canada third after the United States team was disqualified for an infraction in the exchange zone.
The faulty handoff between Mike Rodgers and Justin Gatlin in the first exchange came a day after the American women had won an appeal to get into the 400 relay final after their disqualification.
Usain Bolt stormed to an unprecedented “triple triple” of Olympic golds at the Rio Games on Friday, promptly declaring himself “the greatest”.
His nine gold medals draws him level with USA sprinter and long jumper Carl Lewis and Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi on the list of most decorated athletes.
The men’s four-by-one hundred meter relay was no doubt, one of the most exciting events of this year’s Olympics, as Usain Bolt made history.
It was the third consecutive Olympic 4x100m gold medal for Jamaica.
He grabbed the baton almost even with the U.S. team, but pulled away easily in the homestretch to give Jamaica its third consecutive 4×100 gold.
With Rio rumoured to be his last Olympics, the Jamaican sprinter could also have a bright future in field events – as his stunning night-time javelin toss reveals.
The 32-year-old Cheruiyot adds the Olympic title to two world championships in the 5,000 and one in the 10,000. He smirked and continued, “My team came through for me tonight”. You work so hard with your teammates, guys you compete against nearly all year long. “I am definitely going to miss the crowd and the energy and above all, I am going to miss the competition”. If the ruling stands, it will be the ninth time that the USA has failed to complete a baton pass in the event since 1995. “I never knew this would happen when I started out”, Bolt told BBC Sport.
“I hope I’ve set the bar high enough that no one can do it again”, said sprint king Bolt, a ninth Olympic gold medal safely in the bank.
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It’s the last Olympics we’re likely to see Bolt compete in – he’s says he’s retiring in 2017, after the World Championships in London.
