In what may have been his final act at an Olympic Games, Usain Bolt took his career medal haul at the showpiece event to nine on Saturday morning – and went on to proclaim that he is now the greatest.
“There’s nothing else I can do really, for me, I’ve proven to the world that I’m the greatest and this is what I came here for,” said the 9-time Olympic gold medalist.
“I’m trying to be one of the greatest. Be among Ali and Pele.”
Bolt, who has won the 100, 200 and 4×100 relay gold medals at Beijing, London and now Rio, crossed in 37.27 seconds. Japan set an Asian record to take the silver in 37.60, holding off the third-place Americans by 0.02.
Bolt made it clear in February that Rio 2016 would be his final Olympics as he plans to retire from the sport completely after the London World Championship in 2017.
The atmosphere was electric as fans settled in to watch Athletics’ biggest ever star take to the track one final time and after easing to another victory he said that he now felt he was at the top of the pile.
“There you have it, I am now the greatest,” he explained.
Training is such an integral part of being an athlete and many have to sacrifice significant aspects of their life during the four year training cycle between Olympics.
At 29-years-old the Jamaican is no different and he is now looking forward to getting away from constant training and enjoying other parts of his life.
“I will be up very late and having fun.”
His final race was a classic in which the Jamaican relay team finished a clear 0.33 of a second ahead of the Japanese contingent in second place.
A team of Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmeade all made life much easier for the superstar and he was grateful for their efforts.
“My team has been supporting me all night, from the moment we arrived at the stadium there was no doubt we would win.”
The Olympics is going to miss the Lightning Bolt pose that has lit up the last three Games at a time when athletics desperately needs a hero.
When Usain Bolt crosses the finish line and starts pounding his chest, it resonates with the public around the world.
But after his 4x100m triumph in Rio on Friday, the Rio crowd celebrated in the knowledge that they were witnessing the departure of a legend.
From his first 100m Olympic gold in Beijing, when the Jamaican astonished the world with his 9.69sec time, Usain St Leo Bolt has been the real star.
On top of his record-equalling nine athletics gold medals, Bolt, who will be 30 on Sunday, is confident, relaxed and supremely connected with the crowds he attracts wherever he goes.
His mother seems to think that the young Bolt, who will retire after next year’s world championships, was born to run.
Born in Trelawny parish near Montego Bay — where a host of sprinters including the shamed Ben Johnson also come from — Bolt was something special from the start, according to Jennifer Bolt.
By the age of 12, Bolt was the fastest in his school. “He was always on top,” she said.
A school cricket coach urged him to try track and field and his talent gradually grew, though as in his races his progression was not always fast out of the blocks.
But at the age of 15, he was already 1.96 metres (6ft 5in) and at the world junior championships in 2002, he won the 200m. He is one of just a handful of athletes to have won world titles at junior, youth and senior levels.
Bolt set his first 100m world record (9.72sec) in May 2008 in New York. The Jamaican then stormed the Beijing Olympics with his first 100m, 200m, relay treble. The world was forced to take notice of his chest-beating. His 9.58 record at the world championships in Berlin in 2009 was an even bigger sensation.
With each major win, he has deflected attention away from bad news for track and field.
In Beijing, it was the doping controversy surrounding women’s sprint star Marion Jones and her boyfriend Tim Montgomery. Gatlin was unable to defend his title as he was a doping ban. Other rivals have also been tainted and fallen by the wayside.
Bolt has maintained his common touch with the crowds through all this.
