Usain Bolt insisted it was “mission accomplished” after signing off with a “treble-treble” in his final Olympic race, predicting that his achievements might never be broken.
The world’s fastest man anchored Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team to gold on a balmy Rio de Janeiro night on Friday to capture the 100m, 200m and relay titles for a third straight Games.
“I hope I’ve set the bar high enough that no one can do it again,” said sprint king Bolt, a ninth Olympic gold medal safely in the bank.
“It’s a great feeling — I’ve worked so hard every Olympics to win three gold medals and I’m just so happy I’ve accomplished so much,” he said, adding that his Olympic farewell was tinged with a little sadness.
“I knew it was going to be done and I’m definitely going to miss the crowd and the energy, and I’m going to miss the competition,” he said. “It’s just [I] have mixed feelings now, but it’s been a great career. I’ll have to make a new bucket list now I’ve achieved all I wanted to in track and field.”
Bolt, who has said he will retire after next year’s world championships in London, brought Jamaica home in 37.27 seconds ahead of surprise silver medalists Japan and Canada, promoted to third after the US were disqualified.
He also made it a perfect nine wins out of nine Olympic finals he has contested, but confessed to feeling nervous before Nickel Ashmeade brought him the baton.
“I was just watching them and praying they didn’t mess up,” said Bolt, who turns 30 when the Rio Games close today.
“As soon as I got the baton, I knew I was going to win this one. There’s no one on the anchor leg going to out-run me,” he said. “I told the guys: ‘Don’t give me too much work to do!’”
“It’s a relief because I’ve had all this pressure over the years to achieve gold medals back-to-back all the time,” he said.
Yohan Blake summed up his history-making teammate by saying: “Nine medals make Usain immortal. He’s more than the greatest.”
Bolt, who has now won an astonishing 20 Olympic and world titles, matched US sprinter and long-jumper Carl Lewis and Finnish long-distance runner Paavo Nurmi with nine Olympic golds. Lewis won his from 1984 to 1996, while Nurmi racked up the same tally in the 1920s.
Bolt insisted all of his gold medals were special.
“They all mean the world to me,” he said. “It’s nine — all of them are special and they all came along at the right time.”
“I’ve proven to the world I’m the greatest, so it’s mission accomplished, pretty much,” he said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from