Bolt will now go in search of 200m and relay success as he looks to sign off with nine Olympic gold medals. By the time he hit the finish line Bolt was pointing to his chest, where the only thing missing on his uniform was a Superman cape. I wasn’t happy with the schedule and hopefully we’ll take it back to the normal schedule.
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“That’s the first time I’ve gone into a stadium and they’ve started to boo (Gatlin)”, Bolt said.
In again beating Gatlin, the last man to win an Olympic 100m gold before Bolt’s arrival, Bolt removed the veneer of the most hyperbolic rivalries of modern sport.
No other athlete – man or woman – has ever won three consecutive individual Olympic sprint titles. “I told you guys I was going to do it”, said Bolt.
As with his previous performances in the Beijing and London Olympics, the collective expectations of the entire country were pinned on Usain Bolt as he sought to cement his legacy in the 100m finals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Bolt delivered, as always.
A split-second after Bolt crossed the line, he raised the index finger, and then, the real party began.
Bolt unlaced his now-famous gold spikes and took selfies with the fans.
“I have the utmost respect for Usain”, said Gatlin, who won Olympic gold at the 2004 Athens Games and bronze four years ago in London. He’ll have to face Bolt – and track and field fans – at least a few more times here, as Gatlin is competing in the 200-meter dash and the 4×100 relay. 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.
There was some concern because Bolt missed Jamaica’s Olympic Trials last month because of a sore hamstring (Jamaica has different rules than the U.S.as far as Olympic teams go and put Bolt on its team anyway). He considered it with the detached reflection of a man who knew he would win and only queried how quickly he would go. “I would like to see everyone have respect in the audience as well”.
Bolt himself dedicated the medal to Jamaica by tweeting, “Jamaica stand up!” Bolt is one of the planet’s most popular athletes, and his greatest nemesis in the 100 has been twice suspended for doping. “That’s something I really want”. He ran a 43.03, topping Johnson’s 43.18 world record set in Seville in 1999 and Johnson’s 43.49 Olympic record set in Atlanta in 1996.
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With his pending retirement, people will see a new champion in the upcoming 202 Olympics in Tokyo. It was the second time in history that three runners in the same race ran under 44 seconds; the first time occurred at the 2015 world championships, where the three were separated by just three tenths of a second.
