Mission Accomplished As Bolt Seals ‘Triple-Triple’

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt celebrates his team’s victory at the end of the Men’s 4x100m Relay Final during the athletics event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 19, 2016. PHOTO: Eric Feferberg/AFP

Usain Bolt brought the curtain down on his Olympic career with a record-equalling ninth gold medal, anchoring Jamaica to relay glory in a perfectly scripted ‘triple-triple’ finale.

AFP report continues:

The 29-year-old superstar, widely seen as the greatest sprinter in history, stormed over the line in 37.27sec to trigger an eruption of adulation in the Olympic Stadium.

Japan’s quartet took a surprise silver in 37.60sec while Canada took bronze after the United States, who crossed in third, were later disqualified.

The victory saw Bolt complete a third consecutive clean sweep of the 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles — the so-called ‘triple-triple’ following his six gold medals in the 2008 and 2012 Games.

It leaves Bolt, who will retire in 2017, level with Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi on nine Olympic gold medals, a record for a track and field athlete.

“I’m going to stay up late and have fun,” said Bolt, who lingered on the track after his lap of honour, kneeling down to kiss the finish line amid chants of “Usain Bolt, Usain Bolt” echoed from the stands.

“I would never have thought I could do back-to-back-to-back Olympics. I never thought that. The first one I was just happy, the second one was a challenge and to come into the third one is just unbelievable. I hope I’ve set the bar high enough that no one can do it again.”

The relay gold was the final act of an incredible Olympic career that redefined athletics and has left commentators scrambling to find a new superlatives as each milestone came and went.

– ‘The man’s a genius’ –

On Sunday Bolt became the first man in history to win a hat-trick of 100m gold medals.

He followed that up with Thursday’s barnstorming win in the 200m, sealing another never-before-seen treble.

“People always ask me if I’m unbeatable, but when it comes to a championship I think personally I am,” Bolt reflected Friday after an incredible 20th gold medal in Olympic and World Championships. The only blemish on an otherwise perfect record is a disqualification for a false start at the 2011 worlds in Daegu.

Friday’s triumph was potentially the most awkward, with Bolt’s gold medal hopes reliant on the performances of his team-mates.

But Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmeade were in no mood to fluff their lines.

A superb third leg by Ashmeade ensured that Bolt had a precious lead after the final changeover.

From that point there was only ever going to be one outcome and Bolt powered home by three metres to universal delight.

“We wanted to win to make Usain immortal and he is immortal,” Blake said. “I’ve told him he should come back for 2020!”

Bolt added: “As soon as I got my hand on the stick I knew I’d won because there was no one on that leg who could outrun me today.”

Bolt will now set off a year-long victory tour that will culminate with the World Championships in London next August.

The Jamaican is preparing to exit with athletics fighting to restore credibility after a year dominated by doping and corruption scandals.

International Association of Athletics Federations president Sebastian Coe is adamant however that athletics will endure, despite the loss of its most charismatic leading man.

In an interview with AFP on Friday, Coe said Bolt had transcended his sport in a way that was comparable to boxing icon Muhammad Ali.

“The man is a genius,” Coe said. “There’s been nobody since Muhammad Ali who’s got remotely near to what this guy has done in terms of grabbing the public imagination.”

However, Coe argued that just as a new generation of boxers emerged after Ali’s retirement, so track and field would unearth new personalities after Bolt.

“It’s a massive gap, but it’s not a gap that is insuperable,” Coe said.

“You’re not going to fill that gap overnight, but there are great, talented athletes out there.”

Usain Bolt won his ninth Olympic gold medal after helping Jamaica to victory in the men's 4x100 metres

Usain Bolt On Cloud Nine After Completing His 'Triple Triple' Olympic Mission

Press Association report that Usain Bolt hopes he has achieved a feat no man will be able to match as he completed his 'triple triple' mission by anchoring Jamaica to gold in the men's 4x100 metres relay on his final Olympic appearance.

But he admitted the occasion was tinged with sadness as the sport's biggest name said goodbye to its biggest stage.

Bolt made it a clean sweep of 100m, 200m and sprint relay golds from three successive Games to bring his gold medal haul to nine.

The world's fastest man, who after his 200m victory on Thursday night planted a farewell kiss on Rio's Olympic Stadium track following his last individual race at a Games, brought the defending champions home in 37.27 seconds.

"I've worked hard every Olympics to win three gold medals, I've proven to the world I'm the greatest," he said. "I'm just happy I've accomplished so much and I'm relieved.

"I would have never thought I could go back to back to back at the Olympics. The first one (in Beijing in 2008) I was just happy, the second one (in London in 2012) was a challenge, and then to come here and do the third one is just unbelievable.

"I hope I've set the bar high enough so that no one can do it again.

"All of the Olympics are special to me, without any of them it wouldn't be the same. All of them mean the world to me - it's nine."

Bolt, who celebrates his 30th birthday on Sunday, signed off in trademark fashion as he took the baton from Nickel Ashmeade and, knees high and arms pumping, stormed away from second-placed Japan to huge cheers.

"As soon as I got the baton I knew that I was going to win this one," he said.

"There's no one on the anchor leg who can outrun me when we get the baton. I told the guys: 'Don't give me too much work to do please', and they did exactly that. I had no work to do other than run to the line."

Bolt raised his baton to the heavens as he crossed the line before embracing his team-mates, also including Asafa Powell and Yohan Blake, before the quartet set off on a lap of honour, draped in Jamaican flags.

The world's fastest man blew kisses to the stands. It was the end of an era.

"I'm going to miss the crowd, the energy and the competition," he said. "It's been a great career.

"It's mixed feelings. It's a relief, because it's really stressful, I've had injury problems, but I'm also sad that I have to leave, this is my last one."

This is not the Bolt of eight years ago, when he stormed to his 100m and 200m world records in Beijing, nor even of four years ago when he blitzed the field in London.

Age is catching up with him - the only thing that can it seems. He declared after his 200m success on Thursday night that his legs refused to go faster and he felt tired.

"It's hard work, sweat and sacrifice," he said on what was behind his achievements. "I've sacrificed so much throughout the season, throughout the years, I've been through so much. It's just sweat and tears."

He remains, though, utterly dominant.

Friday night's relay time was slower than both of Jamaica's previous Olympic triumphs. That is all relative, though. It was still the fourth fastest time in history.

For Bolt there is just one more season to go. He will retire after next year's World Championships in London. And then - gone.

"It's going to be hard to motivate myself to come back, but I have one more year to do and I'm not going to let the fans down," he said.

Bolt's joy was in stark contrast to the United States, who had just about completed their lap of honour after coming home third when they looked up at the scoreboard and discovered they had been disqualified.

A botched first changeover between Mike Rodgers and Justin Gatlin left them deflated and saw Canada elevated to bronze.

"It was a nightmare, especially at the end of the lap," said Gatlin.

"You work so hard with your team-mates for that moment when you can come together. All that work just crumbles."

There was better news for the US women's sprint relay team, who retained their title, in the process Allyson Felix becoming the first woman to win five Olympic gold medals in athletics.