Usain Bolt has done it! He is now the first Sprinter ever to win Gold in the 100m at the Olympics 3 consecutive times!
Everyone thought that after the Semi-Finals he was ready to clock 9.6 odd or sub 9.8s based on previous trends. Usain Bolt clocked the fastest time of 9.86 in the Semi-Finals looking from side to side at DeGrasse who came 2nd and Bromell who qualified as a fastest loser in 3rd.
Suga called all finalists for the Final except for Ben Youssef Meïté who ran his PB from Ivory Coast. Nickel Ashmeade was in his Semi-Final won by Jimmy Vicaut and certainly disappointed coming 5th in 10.05s. Akani Simbine of South Africa came 3rd.
Justin Gatlin won his Semi-Final easily ahead of Yohan Blake in 9.94s. But Gatlin fled to the tunnel afterwards because he probably knew what was in store for him.
What was in store? Usain Bolt having the second slowest reaction time out of the blocks, keeping Gatlin in sight until he reached 60m, knowing Gatlin would get tired and then just ran right past him to win Gold in 9.81s. He could have proven everyone right by clocking sub 9.8s, but he only seemed concerned about winning and beat his chest before the line. He tweeted that this win was for his Jamaican people. Thanks Usain because you certainly made our weekend. Gatlin took the Silver in 9.89. Andre DeGrasse from Canada was a close 3rd and won the Bronze in 9.91.
Yohan Blake came from behind and was 4th with his SB in 9.93s.
USA’s Trayvon Bromell came last.
Of course Gatlin was and still is the centre of social media memes. Besides being called a bus conductor, here are 2 of Suga’s faves:
Will Gatlin collect more Silver at his next stop by the 200m? We’ll see. In the mean time, Usain Bolt to di worl’!
In other news,
Tennis
Great Britain’s Andy Murray won Gold, beating Juan MartÃn del Potro of Argentina. Kei Nishikori of Japan defeated Spain’s Rafael Nadal to win the Bronze.
Nadal is not leaving RIO empty handed though because he won Gold in the Men’s Doubles.
Venus Williams and Ram lost out on the Gold medal after being up 6-3 in the decisive 3rd set to go down 7-10.
The USA still won Gold though with the pair of Mattek-Sands and Sock.
Women’s Triple Jump Final
Jamaica’s Kimberly Williams was unable to medal and came 7th. Caterine Ibargüen of Colombia won the Gold.
Men’s 400m Final
Wayde Van Niekerk from South Africa won the 400m with a WORLD RECORD of 43.03 out of Lane 8! He was way ahead of Kirani James of Grenada who got the Silver in 43.76 and USA’s LaShawn Merritt the Bronze in 43.85. He was .15s faster than Michael Johnson’s World Record set in 1999 that nobody thought would be broken.
Van Niekerk sprinted the entire 400m and could not see anyone. He even accelerated further on the final stretch. Magnificent run and Congrats to Van Niekerk who clearly saved all his gas for the Final.
The Sprinter who was in Jamaica a few months ago at the Jamaica National Racers Grand Prix, trained with Bolt for a few days leading up to the meet and they were happy to be able to Congratulate each other as Champions after their races.
Stay tuned for today’s packed Schedule!
By: Gabrielle Burgess
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