“When he comes away from the track he’s a great guy, a cool guy”. And I think the moments right before the gun are really fantastic.
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J is for Jennifer: His mother Jennifer has been by his side – whenever she could keep up with him – and is the most influential person in Bolt’s life. Last night, it was 9.81 seconds.
“I felt really smooth, I knew if I ran through the line I probably would have ran the world record or close to it”, said Bolt, who took gold ahead of Justin Gatlin and will go head-to-head against him over 200m as well.
Gatlin took the silver medal with a time of 9.89 seconds, and Canadian Andre Degrasse took bronze at 9.91 seconds.
MONTAGNE: And afterwards, what did the athletes have to say?
And despite a less-than-warm welcome from the crowd, Gatlin wasn’t holding any grudges, instead choosing to focus on the support he received from Americans inside the stadium.
Justin Rose won gold in golf by edging out Henrik Stenson and Andy Murray won his second career tennis gold by defeating Juan Martin del Potro in a four-hour final match.
“It was brilliant”, Bolt said.
Gatlin got the opposite.
MORE: Do doping bans taint these American medals? From the moments before he crouched into the blocks, putting his finger to his lips and asking for silence, until long after the race, when he worked the crowd and posed for photos, Bolt made the troubled world of track feel fun again. Here he is at his press conference.
U is for Usain: Although most commonly known as Usain, his full name is Usain St. Leo Bolt, which he uses on Twitter.
Minister Grange highlighted that sprinter Christania Williams ran her personal best (10.96) on her way to the women’s 100m final and “I am quite pleased with her performance because she gave her all and we can’t ask for more than that”.
“I’m not even going to get into what happened because I can not change it”, Campbell-Brown said.
You didn’t even have to watch the race to know what happened. You’re an athlete, so you just got to run.
GOLDMAN: Yeah, even Usain Bolt – just an athlete, right? “It was. It’s been kind of a lot to deal with”, she said.
GOLDMAN: They did. Bolt is a rock star. The cheering starts when he appears on the track.
Appearing at his fourth Olympics, Gatlin picked up a fifth medal – albeit not the one he had hoped for. He has never tested positive, but neither did Lance Armstrong.
C is for Commonwealth: Although it looked like he might miss the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, he ultimately showed up and competed in and won the 4×100m relay. It was the beginning that he said “shocked” him. So that’s not a bad haul. Tom, thanks very much.
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MONTAGNE: NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman in Rio.
