Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Nickel Ashmeade celebrate after 4x100m relay final
Usain Bolt has raced to immortality as he completed in Rio an unprecedented “triple triple” by winning his ninth Olympic Games gold medal as he anchored Jamaica to victory in the men’s 4x100m relay.
Bolt, as usual, took over on the last leg of the race with deficit to Japan but soon made up with his powerful strides and ended up winning by a wide-margin after good support from Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmeade.
The track and field legend, now with gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at the last three Olympic Games, starting off in Beijing eight years ago and repeating the victories at London 2012 and Rio, has achieved the greatness he went to Rio to pursue and is now the greatest athlete, male or female, that has ever raced on planet athlete. (Though he was already great before Rio Olympics).
Bolt before the last sprint, said he wanted to be remembered in the same bracketed with Pele and Muhammadu Ali.
The 4x100m relay triumph brings down a golden curtain on Bolt’s Olympic career as he said he would retire from the sport at the end of the World Championships in London next summer.
Japan took silver and Canada bronze after the United States quartet was disqualified.
After the victory Bolt said: “I’m just happy to have done what I came here to do. I’m just proud of myself. I have to give thanks to the guys, they really came through for me and I’m really happy about that.
“The pressure is real, but I look at it as an accomplishment. I enjoy pressure and I live for these moments. For me, it’s beautiful.
“I won’t celebrate now. I’m just going to go home and stay up late tonight, just talking and having fun.
“I’m just happy and relieved. I’ve done it and it’s unreal. I never knew from the start that this was going to happen to me and now it has it’s a brilliant feeling. I told the guys that if they didn’t come through for me I’d beat them up!”
“We wanted to win to make Usain immortal and he is immortal,” Blake added. “I’ve told him he should come back for 2020!”
cpcnews.org 