Usain Bolt became the first person to win three straight Olympic 100-meter titles, blowing down the straightaway in 9.81 seconds at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Canada’s Andre de Grasse took bronze in 9.91, reports Xinhua.
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Inside the stadium, scores more journalists awaited a midnight news conference, where Bolt said victory in the 200m on Thursday would upgrade his status from “legend” to “immortal”. “I told you guys I was going to do it. Stay tuned, two more to go”.
Typically, the internet exploded to salute Bolt, who’s aiming for a three gold medal haul in this years Rio Games.
Photographer Cameron Spencer captured this moment in Bolt’s semi-final heat as the sprinter glanced back and smiled at the rest of the field as it struggled to keep up with him.
Bolt’s time was the fastest he has run in the 100 meter in 2016, but he feels he could have gone quicker had the turnaround from the semifinals not been so swift.
“When it comes to the 200m I’m much more confident”. I’m just happy that I won and that’s the key thing.
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 sailed to gold in a time of 9.81 seconds. The 34-year-old American won the 100m gold medal at the Athens 2004 Games but later served a four-year ban for doping. Some might argue his gutsy effort at last year’s world championships, when he overcame a season’s worth of injuries to beat Gatlin by 0.01 of a second, might have been the grittiest race he’s won. And I hope he can say the same for me.
“Somebody said I can become immortal”.
“I have the utmost respect for Usain off the track”, he added.
Behind Bolt trailed Gatlin, his great rival, who took silver again in 9.89.
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Yet Bolt may describe this part of his race as sluggish oncemore, as Gatlin left him looking like he was stuck in treacle in the opening stages.
