It was Felix’s sixth gold medal, most ever for a USA female in track.
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Usain Bolt tilted his head backward and screamed.
Neither team came home with a medal from London 2012 but Germany, ranked second in the world, is a three-time bronze medalist.
On Thursday, August 18th, at the Olympic Stadium in Engenho de Dentro, the world’s fastest man dominated the 200m final with a time of 19.78 seconds and is one final step away from the historic feat.
This is not the Bolt of eight years ago, when he stormed to his 100m and 200m world records in Beijing, nor even of four years ago when he blitzed the field in London.
“I just have mixed feelings now”, he told reporters. “I think I could have run a little bit faster”.
“I gave it my best it was hard I really wanted to break the world record and tried but just not fit enough”.
“One day, I left him on the bed and when I came back he was close to falling off, so from here I was saying, ‘What kind of child he is?” she recalled. “Be among Ali and Pele”, he declared in the seconds after the win.
No one had the power on the track nor the courage off it to contradict the 29-year-old whose blistering run gave Jamaica victory in the 4x100m relay.
Sweden has been accused of playing cowardly, defensive football on its way to the women’s Olympic final – will it change tactics for the gold-medal match? But they were disqualified afterward when officials ruled that one of their baton exchanges was outside the legal zone.
Judges ruled Felix had been knocked off-balance by Brazilian runner Kauiza Venancio and allowed a race against the clock. It was still the fourth fastest time in history.
Trinidad-born American Kerron Clement won the men’s 400m hurdles gold, clocking 47.73sec to hold off a furious late challenge from Kenya’s Boniface Tumuti. Running the second leg in the relay, Felix kept the US up there with the mighty Jamaicans, before English Gardner and Tori Bowie brought the baton, tightly clenched in their hands, home for gold. American Sandi Morris took silver, and Eliza McCartney of New Zealand won bronze.
The American men, who have had chronic problems handling the baton in this event in recent Olympics, finished third. It was the first time any country had swept the 100 and 200 metres sprints in both men’s and women’s competitions at an Olympic Games. And he did not look pleased when he crossed the line. His record in his favorite race still stands, though, at 19.19.
Melissa Bishop will compete for a medal after advancing to the final of the women’s 800-metres.
Japanese duo Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi claimed badminton women’s doubles gold.
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Cheick Sallah Cisse made history by winning Ivory Coast’s first gold medal at an Olympic Games, and did so in stunning fashion.
