I am the greatest.
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Even the gods, of some sort, seemed to agree Friday night.
In the end, the USA battle didn’t matter at all, with the Americans getting disqualified, yet again, this time for a baton-exchange violation, resulting in Japan finishing second in 37.50 and Canada getting the bronze in 37.64.
Bolt will now set off a year-long victory tour that will culminate with the World Championships in London next August.
He later told BBC Sports, “I’m going to stay up late and have fun”.
The only thing that stood between Bolt and Olympic track and field immortality was a clean exchange. “I love competing. So I’m going to miss all of that. And in the process, I became one of the greatests”.
Regardless of what he does next, the charismatic Jamaican has clearly been relishing his last Olympic performance, smiling broadly as he barrels toward the finish line. Canada earned the bronze after United States of America were disqualified for having the first baton exchange happen outisde the takeover zone. This promoted Canada to the bronze medal. The Canadian team was bumped up to third place.
“I’ve worked hard every Olympics to win three gold medals, I’ve proven to the world I’m the greatest”, he said.
The 29-year-old ran an electrifying final leg to anchor Jamaica’s second straight Olympic men’s 4x100m relay victory.
The Jamaican team that featured Elain Thompson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was second in 41.36.
“It’s very humbling, and I’m thankful to share it with these special ladies”, Felix said. Relieved because he had a mission and that mission was accomplished; sad because this was the last time he was racing in the Olympics.
Bolt, of course, now has nine Olympic golds. Same as the Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, the American swimmer Mark Spitz and the Finnish distance star Paavo Nurmi. He is one of just a handful of athletes to have won world titles at junior, youth and senior levels.
The easy answer: one of them, for sure. A world record over 100m, a world record over 200m, a world record in the sprint relay. Not set at the Olympics but at the 2009 world championships. There was no Beijing 2008-style beating of the chest. But, again in Berlin, he went 19.19. Team USA hadn’t won Olympic gold since Sydney 2000 and other than the stripped 2012 medal had not made the medal podium since 2004. Al Oerter won four in a row, in the discus.
There was further drama as the American team thought they had won the bronze medal but news broke of their disqualification, due to an incorrect baton change, as they did a lap of honour.
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Latynina has 18 medals overall. Just as he had done in Beijing and London, Bolt followed up gold in the 100m and 200m by helping his country reign supreme in the relay.
