Rio de Janeiro: Usain Bolt stormed to victory in the 100m final at the Rio Olympics, becoming the first man to win the blue riband event three times in a row.
The 29-year-old Jamaican clocked 9.81 seconds, beating rival Justin Gatlin of the United States by eight hundredths of a second at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday. Canada’s Andre de Grasse took bronze in 9.91. It was the seventh Olympic gold medal of Bolt’s career as he confirmed his status as one of the greatest sprinters in history.
The result kept intact Bolt’s hopes of being the first man to achieve an unprecedented triple-triple: three successive Olympic gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.
Bolt enjoyed overwhelming support from the capacity crowd while his long-time rival Gatlin was roundly jeered. Bolt beat Gatlin by one-hundredth of a second at the World Championships in Beijing last year.
It was the sweet culmination of a difficult season for Bolt with a hamstring injury and lack of form raising questions on his ability to defend his Olympic titles. The injury had forced Bolt to skip the national Olympic trials in Jamaica. But the Jamaican legend roared back to form last month by winning the 200m at the Anniversary Games in London.
Earlier, Bolt had cruised through the morning heats and then ran the fastest time in the semi-finals.
The legendary athlete silenced all doubts over his form with a brisk 9.86 seconds to win the second semi-final in the event. True to his trademark languid style, Bolt seemed to ease off in the final 10 meters but still had enough time to look around to ensure he comfortably beat the rest of the field.
