But this was not Bolt at his fastest.
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Meanwhile, pull up a seat and enjoy his last two Olympic runs, the 200 and the relay. Who’s to argue? Even Lewis might concede after this Olympics ends. “Two more medals to go and I can sign off. Immortal”.
“Usain Bolt will be retiring soon, but this could be the next star of the sport”, Johnson said during his commentary on BBC.
“Stay tuned, two more to go”, Bolt said.
“It brings back memories of London, that’s where my thoughts went back to”, Sumgong said.
Bolt remains on target to leaving Rio with a third successive Olympic treble after winning the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay titles in 2008 and 2012.
He won NCAA championships in the 100 and 200m for USC past year, then took gold in those two events before his home crowd in Toronto at the 2015 Pan American Games. He is now the first person, male or female, to win two Olympics singles titles.
But I knew that would happen, Gatlin would get a good start, he always does.
The mere mention of his name Sunday night prompted roars in the stadium.
Gatlin’s best time of the season, the 9.80 he ran at U.S. Olympic trials, would have won the rather pedestrian race.
“That’s the first time I’ve gone into a stadium and they’ve started to boo”, Bolt said.
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt greets spectators after winning the men’s 100-meter final during the at …
In April 2006, Gatlin tested positive for testosterone and faced an eight-year ban from track and field.
Bolt dominated for Jamaica, but Sunday belonged to Great Britain, with five gold medals. “He shows up and pushes you to run fast and be at your best at all times”.
He’s so good he didn’t flinch when afterward he was asked about being the greatest ever. That’s what I’m here to prove again and again.
“When people come out here they get enthralled in the excitement, I understand that and there’s a lot of Usain Bolt fans and a lot of Jamaican fans”, said the 34-year-old Gatlin, who won Olympic gold 12 years ago.
Van Niekerk stormed out of the blocks and kept going, holding off 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James and 2008 victor LaShawn Merritt, who both ran season-best times to finish with silver and bronze. You look up and, just that quickly, he’s already there.
With his doping past, Gatlin has been portrayed as the villain by some in his rivalry with Bolt.
Kenya’s Jemima Sumgong and Colombia’s Caterine Ibarguen were others to win gold medals, the former in the women’s marathon and the latter in the women’s triple jump.
And over the loudspeakers, Marley’s “Jammin” echoed through the stadium.
Bolt delivered the theatrics, as well as the speed, on this night in Rio. This is a guy, after all, who was last seen taking selfies as he danced the samba with a line of women at his press conference earlier in the week.
Gatlin had nothing but praise for a man he has watched come past him so often. Shortly after he arrived in Rio, he conceded that, yes, he wished he’d had more chances to run in real races, but that everything would be OK.
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Tim Keeney is a sports contributor for Heavy.
