American teen sensation Simone Biles added a third gold in gymnastics, capturing the women’s vault title, and the USA men’s basketball team had yet another scare, this one from France, before advancing to the quarterfinals as the top, albeit shaky, seed.
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Five hours before the biggest race of the Rio Games, a horn at Olympic Stadium sounded and a clock began ticking backward.
He added to his already gilded legacy by becoming the first athlete to win the 100-meters at three different Games.
Gatlin would have been heading toward a second Olympic gold in the 100 against anyone else, something that would not have pleased the crowd that booed him because of his doping suspension.
Bolt, meanwhile, was left unimpressed by the reception afforded to Gatlin.
“That’s the first time I’ve gone into a stadium and they’ve started to boo”, Bolt said.
Justin Gatlin now has a full set of Olympic medals in the 100 meters.
He blew kisses to the crowd after surviving a slow start and running down Justin Gatlin of the USA, then posed for photos with the Rio Games mascot.
“I’m not sure Usain has 9.60s in him, but I don’t think he’ll need it”. “This is the Olympics that I have to do it at, so I came here focused and ready to go and it was brilliant”.
“I’m excited about what about to happen for the rest of the Olympics, I really want the 200m world record”, he said. “I told you guys I was going to do it”.
As for the Olympic icon Bolt, he had nothing but praise for the Canadian medallist. “So I would just like to see everyone have the respect in the audience as well”. “This is great for track and field in Canada”. There is no rivalry or bad blood between us. I’m a competitor, he’s a competitor and he has pushed me to be the athlete that I am today. “When it comes down to it I have given him his closest races all his career”.
The sprinter-turned-showman’s swan song in the Olympic 100 meters Sunday night was a no-doubter – a pedestrian-by-his-standards 9.81-second sprint down the straightaway, but not so slow that he couldn’t take time to point at his own chest with his thumb a step before he crossed the finish line. Sometimes you just have to understand that it’s not your fault you were born within a few years of Bolt, just like we all tried to appreciate last winter that we were lucky enough to be alive when David Bowie was.
Bolt blasted to victory in his semi-final this morning in 9.86s – the fastest qualifier for the final.
For Bolt, this medal is the first part of what he hopes will become a landmark trilogy.
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Heats for the 200 start on Tuesday with the final on Thursday. 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.01, might have been the grittiest race he has won.
