Bolt, draped in Brazilian and Jamaican flags, did a lap of honour to chants of “Usain Bolt, Usain Bolt!” after another fantastic victory and eighth Olympic gold.
Advertisement
The Jamaican ran the 200 in 19.78 seconds to easily win his third straight Olympic title in the event, adding to gold from Beijing and London.
“I can’t say, swimming and track and field are totally different events”, he shrugged.
“I don’t need to prove anything else”.
Usain Bolt is officially the world’s greatest sprinter with his fan base stretching far further than his home country of Jamaica.
“I want to be remembered as one of the greatest”. Be among (Muhammad) Ali and Pele. “I hope to be in that bracket after these Games”. Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre was awarded third after a photo finish also involving Britain’s Adam Gemili.
Crouser stunned his rivals to win the U.S. Olympic trials and during the Games final he looked untouchable.
His compatriot and reigning world champion Joe Kovacs had to settle for second with a best throw of 21.78 meters.
“I was just happy it was over and relieved to come out with a win”.
Tomas Walsh grabbed bronze to win New Zealand’s first male shot put medal at the Olympics.
The three-time 100m and 200m champion is now just one 4x100m relay run away from his Olympic “triple triple” – and, in his own words, sporting immortality. He and silver medallist Kevin Mayer of France paid warm tributes to each other after a close contest.
“I know when I go home and think about it I will probably get a bit emotional”, he said.
“I’ve worked all my career, all my life for this moment”.
“No, I can’t grasp what I’ve achieved, definitely not”, said Bolt.
“Can I do three in a row?”
Canadian Damian Warner, who beat the 28-year-old Eaton in the 100 meters with an Olympic best time of 10.3 seconds as well as in the 110-meter hurdles, snagged the bronze. Eaton finished in the top three in five events: the 100 metres, the long jump, the 400 metres, the pole vault and the 1,500. The American World Record holder equalled Roman Sebrele’s 2004 Olympic Record with 8,893 points.
Dalilah Muhammad led from start to finish and won the women’s 400 hurdles by a wide gap in 53.13 to become the first American woman to win the event.
Denmark’s Sara Slott Petersen won the silver medal ahead of Ashley Spencer of the USA, with world champion Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic managing only fourth.
She clocked 53.13 seconds to win by a margin of 0.42.
The day was filled with other exceptional performances, including Ryan Crouser setting an Olympic record of 22.52 meters (73 feet, 101/2 inches) in winning the shotput, with compatriot Joe Kovacs second at 21.78 (71-51/2), Kate Grace of Santa Monica running a personal-best 1:58.79 in the 800-meter semifinals to advance to Saturday’s final, and the US men’s 400-meter relay team advancing to Saturday’s final with the top qualifying time, 37.65 seconds.
Advertisement
Before most of the crowd had arrived, the United States women’s 4x100m relay team, disqualified in the morning’s heat but reinstated on appeal, took the opportunity to record a qualifying time for tomorrow’s final in a re-run involving just themselves.
