Jamaican Usain Bolt became the first athlete to win three straight 100m gold medals at the Olympic Games as he stormed home in 9.81 seconds in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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Blake finished fourth and called Bolt “an icon and true warrior of the sport”.
“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.
He praised Bolt for his long reign.
Watch Usain Bolt in the video above win the 100m event at the Rio 2016 Olympics and claim a historic seventh gold medal.
Bolt is now on course for the sprint “treble treble” with the 200m and the 4x100m relay to come later.
“Somebody said I can become immortal”, Bolt said after his latest win.
American Justin Gatlin took silver in 9.89 seconds, while Canada’s Andre de Grasse won bronze in 9.91 seconds. This is what we train for.
He was in cruise control in his heat on Saturday, upping the ante considerably by no more than cantering to 9.86 in the semi-finals, even managing a grin as he glanced right and left, and looked set to go seriously quick in the final.
Bolt admitted afterwards he was “surprised” by the crowd’s reaction.
The American served a four-year ban that was twice reduced, first from a lifetime then to eight years. “I told you guys I was going to do it”, joked Bolt amid back slapping and hand pumping from his Jamaican brothers.
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He clocked an astonishing 9.81 seconds to replicate his success at Beijing 2008 and London 2012 – a staggering achievement no doubt – yet one photograph is stealing the show. The final round was so tense that no one led by more than one shot until Just Rose hit a 40-yard pitch to 3 feet, a shot every bit as significant as the 4-iron from 229 yards on the 18th hole at Merion when he won the 2013 U.S. Open.
