Surely hurting, the 34-year-old Gatlin put on a fearless face.
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They were side-by-side in the 100-metre semifinal, the 6-foot-5 Jamaican behemoth and the 5-foot-9 Canadian flash.
Using Bolt’s best 200-meter times since he broke the record in 2009, an average of 19.51 seconds, gives him a 0.8 percent chance, or 131-to-1 odds against, at running a sub-19-second 200-meter sprint.
“The image in right provided by OMEGA shows the photo finish of the men’s 100-meter final when, top to bottom, Bromell from US”. Jamaican Yohan Blake, one of Bolt’s primary competitors in this event, qualified for the semis with the third-best time – 20.13 seconds, while American LaShawn Merritt is into the semis after winning his heat with a time of 20.15 seconds, which tied him for fourth.
The champ starts slow, but closes in a blink. “I was actually exhausted after the 100m and I’m never exhausted after a 100m race”, said Bolt.
“I got to 50 metres and I could tell that I was going to catch him so probably from 50 metres out [I knew i would win]”. Gatlin took the silver for the USA with a time of 9.89.
But it was ideal for the holy grail of U.S. television – live, prime-time broadcasts onto the population-heavy east coast and midwest regions. It was another bronze, just like a year ago at the 2015 world track and field championships in Beijing.
“I didn’t really focus on the boos because when I looked at the stands I saw so many American flags”, said Gatlin.
He turns 30 at the end of the Games, which will be his last, and said he would continue to put back in. “So we know the future of the sport is in good hands”.
He blamed the brutal schedule, which left little recovery time between the 100m semi-finals and final, for the slow winning time of 9.81s in the blue-riband event, but said the fact the 200m timetable was easier would aid his bid to make history again in his favourite event.
Earlier, while warming up, he had wildly cheered Wayde van Niekerk’s world record in the men’s 400m – an event that Bolt has always maintained will be a challenge, and one he wants to try out some day. If I can get a good rest after the semi-finals, there’s a possibility I could.
” I wanted to run as hard as I could…”
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Rio de Janeiro, Aug 16: World record and Olympics record holder at the games and 7 times gold medal victor Usain Bolt revealed that his favourite football team is Spanish giants Real Madrid.
