Imperious Bolt seals amazing 100m treble
Print Edition
FOR 9.81 glorious seconds on Sunday all the ills that have dogged athletics were forgotten as Usain Bolt stormed to victory in the 100 meters final to become the first man to win three successive Olympic titles on the track.
The Jamaican trailed arch-rival Justin Gatlin, roundly booed by the Rio crowd for his doping past, until the 70-meter mark but then swept past the tightening American, finding time to pat his chest as he crossed the line a meter clear.
Gatlin, the 2004 champion who came into the race with the season’s fastest time of 9.80, took second in 9.89. Canada’s Andre de Grasse claimed bronze in 9.91 seconds — the same finishing order as in last year’s world championships.
Victory took Bolt a step closer to his goal of winning a historic “triple-triple” combination of gold in the 100, 200 and the 4x100 relay in three consecutive Olympics.
“Stay tuned, two more to go,” Bolt said. “Somebody said I can become immortal. Two more medals to go and I can sign off. Immortal. It wasn’t perfect today but I got it done and I’m pretty proud of what I’ve achieved — nobody else has done it or even attempted it.”
Other than the 2011 worlds, when he was disqualified for a false start, Bolt has won every global championship individual sprint race since 2008.
That equates to five Olympic golds and seven in the worlds. Throw in two more Olympic and four world championship 4x100 relay golds and the world record in all three events and that is total and utter domination
Already assured of his legendary status on the track, Bolt also added to his reputation as sport’s No. 1 crowd pleaser as he took a leisurely circuit of the stadium, posing for pictures and shaking a thousand hands before taking time to satisfy the demands of the world’s media.
If the fans were pleased, it is hard to imagine the relief felt by officials of the IAAF and IOC, who must have been dreading a Gatlin victory.
The American has served two drugs bans, though he denies any deliberate wrongdoing for either, and at 34 was bidding to become the oldest 100 champion.
Bolt’s time was a long way off his 2009 world record of 9.58 and his victory was probably the least dominant of all but last year’s worlds final, but that was never the issue at stake.
“I expected to go faster,” he said. “But I’m just happy that I won and that’s the key thing.”
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