Bolt cements legacy
Print Edition
AFTER his Olympic sprint double at the London 2012 Games, Usain Bolt declared himself a “legend”. After winning both events for a third time he opted for “the greatest”.
The 29-year-old Jamaican eased to 200 meters gold in 19.78 seconds in Rio on Thursday to take his tally to eight sprint Olympic golds following Sunday’s 100 success in Rio.
“There’s nothing else I can do really,” said Bolt, who became the first athlete to win the two individual sprint titles in three consecutive Olympics.
“I’ve proven to the world that I’m the greatest and that is what I came here for and that’s what I’m doing. This is what I worked for throughout the years. I worked to be the best, to be among the greats.”
The Jamaican had made positive noises about an assault on his own 2009 world record of 19.19 but instead his winning time on a chill, damp night was the slowest of his seven world and Olympic 200 victories.
“I knew it was going to be hard to break the record because when I came off the corner my legs decided, ‘now listen, we’re not going to go any faster’. So I wasn’t fully happy but I’m happy that I got the gold medal.”
Bolt, who turns 30 tomorrow, confirmed this will be his last Olympics.
If he helps Jamaica win a third successive 4x100 relay tonight to complete the triple-triple he will tie the record nine athletics golds won by Finn Paavo Nurmi, a 1920s middle and long distance runner, and American sprinter Carl Lewis.
Bolt said he would definitely run the 100 and relay at next year’s world championships in London, though fears his coach might yet try to convince him to also go for the 200 title.
If he did it would mark the 10th anniversary of the last time he lost a major international 200 race, when he finished second to American Tyson Gay in 2007. He lost in the Jamaican trials to Yohan Blake in 2012
Since then, his 200 tally is three successive Olympic titles and four consecutive world championships — another first.
“I’ve just proven to the world that you can do it clean, with hard work and determination,” he said. “I have made the sport exciting, made people want to see the sport, want to watch the sport, I just put the sport on a different level.”
He said he wanted to remain connected to athletics but not as a coach.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
