Even self-proclaimed “living legends” like Usain Bolt need to have a bit of fun at the Olympics.
Yesterday, newly crowned repeat double sprint champion Bolt would be counting on his fellow Jamaican sprinters to get the 4x100m relay team into today’s final, where he will be favored to clinch his sixth Olympic title spread over two Games.
The individual pressure is off him after he won the 200m on Thursday night to become the first athlete to repeat as double Olympic sprint champion.
Photo: AFP
“It’s all about the 4x100 now, to have some fun, and go out there and do our best,” Bolt said.
With the way Jamaican sprinters have been dominating — with five of six medals in the 100m and 200m — it seems more a matter of passing the baton correctly than stretching for maximum speed.
Get dual silver medalist Yohan Blake to hand off to Bolt and all seems set for a fitting finale to the Bolt show at the Olympics.
Pushing 26, and with younger men closing in on him, Bolt will reassess his goals and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games don’t figure too much right now.
“It’s going to be a hard mission. I think I’ve had my time,” Bolt said. “In life, anything’s possible, but it’s going to be a hard reach. I’m not looking that far. I’ve made myself a legend, I’m going to enjoy it right now.”
There is plenty to enjoy.
On Thursday, he dominated his favorite event almost from the starting gun and had enough of a lead to slow down at the line, bring his left index finger to his lips and signal a “ssssshhh” that was broadcast around the globe.
His second gold of the Games should certainly silence the critics who claimed he was out of form ahead of the Olympics after losses to Blake at the Jamaican trials.
“That was for all the people that doubted me,” Bolt said. “I was just telling them: ‘You can stop talking now because I am a legend.’”
However, he did not stand a chance of hushing the 80,000-capacity crowd at the Olympic Stadium, which went wild as Bolt delivered on his promise of winning when it counts most.
They knew they were witness to something unique.
“I’ve done something that no one has done before, which is defend my double title,” Bolt said. “Back-to-back for me, I would say I’m the greatest.”
His 19.32-second winning time was just 0.02 seconds outside his winning mark at the Beijing Olympics.
Just like the previous Sunday’s victory in the 100m, his junior training partner Blake stayed closest, while Warren Weir made it a full Jamaican medal sweep, before Wallace Spearmon of the US crossed in fourth place.
“The guy is just on another planet right now,” Spearmon said of Bolt.
Bolt kissed the track twice, before striking his trademark “To the World” pose, pointing both his index fingers upward to show what he had achieved.
He can still make it six out of six at two Olympics if he leads his nation to victory in the relay.
His win in the 100m seemed to take a weight off his shoulders for his more favored event, the 200m.
Thursday’s warm evening and a shot at the double-double brought out the swaggering Bolt of old. Wearing a yellow cap backwards and joking with the volunteer looking after his kit, he made the pre-race activities feel like a small-town Caribbean weekend track meet.
Next to him, Blake was all intensity and concentration, but it was not enough to upstage Bolt like he did at the Jamaican trials.
In the 800m, David Rudisha was just as confident as Bolt. He predicted a world record and delivered with an overpowering show of front-running to win the gold.
When many were still hoping that Bolt would set a world mark in the 200m later on Thursday, the Kenyan stole some of the Jamaican sprinter’s thunder at the beginning of a balmy evening suited for setting great times.
Rudisha set off with his giant strides from the starting gun, immediately took the lead and steadily built on it.
He finished in 1 minute, 40.91 seconds, shaving 0.10 seconds off the mark he set in 2010.
“Yes, he’s the greatest runner,” said Timothy Kitum, Rudisha’s teammate who took bronze. “He told me he’s going to run a world record today. He’s the best.”
The decathlon competition traditionally crowns “the world’s greatest athlete,” but for Ashton Eaton it was tough to get much attention on a night when Bolt and Rudisha were dominant.
World-record holder Eaton won by 198 points from US teammate and two-time world champion Trey Hardee. Leonel Suarez of Cuba took the bronze.
The US had another one-two finish when Christian Taylor won the triple jump gold medal, overhauling teammate Will Claye with his fourth jump in the final.
It left the US atop the athletics medal standings, with seven gold and 24 overall, still on target to meet their goal of 30.
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
LIVERPOOL WIN: The 50th Champions League goal by Mohamed Salah helped the leaders of the Premier League to keep their perfect record intact Real Madrid’s big stars on Tuesday turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering UEFA Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win against Serie A leaders Atalanta BC. However, Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage-time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
RSS