Usain Bolt wins 4x100m gold medal in his final Olympic race

He flamed out in the first heat of the 200 meters, aggravated an ankle injury, and immediately flew back home.

“The guy’s last name is Bolt and he’s the fastest man ever, you can’t write stories like that”. I’ve done as much as I possibly can for my country and will continue to do so after I retire from the sport.

Time after time, I saw him burst out of those blocks in the 100 and wondered, how’s he going to pull this off? “I just hate that it happened to us in this fashion”. “The second one was a challenge, and the third one is just unbelievable”. My legs just didn’t feel fresh.

Bolt set his first 100m world record (9.72sec) in May 2008 in NY.

It also feels unbelievable that he’s gone. Time has caught up with the great man – who turns 30 on Sunday. He swears these were his last Olympics.

After being spotted as a fast runner by his cricket coach, Bolt was coached by former Olympians Pablo McNeil and Dwayne Jarrett.

After crossing the line for the last time, Bolt pumped his fist in the air, slowed down and took off those famous gold spikes.

For an athlete pursuing track immortality and his own world record of 19.19sec, Bolt showed he was mortal after all.

Will the likes of Phelps, Lewis and Johnson inspire Bolt to come back to the Olympic track he has so ruthlessly dominated? Nobody came within a figurative mile of beating him.

The inability to successfully hand off a baton has been acute during the Olympics 400 relay. Only the thrill of knowing he was about to finish the race, the Olympics, and his career victorious. I’ve proven to the world I’m the greatest in the sport, so it’s mission accomplished pretty much.

The Australian athletes detained by police in Rio de Janeiro after a flap over credentials at an Olympic basketball game have been released and a team official says they will pay a fine. Jamaica won in 37.27 seconds with Japan in second and Canada third after the U.S. team was disqualified for an infraction in the exchange zone.

He recovered to lap up the acclaim as he celebrated, draped in a Jamaican flag.

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

“It was the twilight zone”, said Gatlin. “It was a nightmare”, Gatlin said. “I have really worked hard for all the medals”.

Seven medal events are being held in track and field. It was the third worldwide loss for Burroughs, who won gold in London in 2012 and whose charismatic, social media-friendly persona has made him the face of wrestling in the U.S.

“A great sprinter”, Gay told reporters. To win gold, Jorgensen ran 6.2 miles, swam a mile in the ocean and cycled 24 miles in 1 hour, 56 minutes, 16 seconds.

YOHAN BLAKE, who thinks Bolt has more to offer. He came back from slow starts to win nearly all of his races. “Well, I don’t know”. I have proved it over and over again that I have done it clean.

Stefanidi finished 24th in London in 2012, but has blossomed into one of the world’s best vaulters.

“Dedication. I wanted it the most”.

“It’s a relief but I’m also sad that I have to leave”.

“I knew it was going to be done and I’m definitely going to miss the crowd and the energy, and I’m going to miss the competition”. He may not scorch the track again at the greatest sporting spectacle on the planet.

USAIN BOLT, on never being satisfied. It’s as if the only way to compete with Bolt was to dope. But still the rest of the field could not catch up with him.

Could that really have been The World’s Fastest Man – all wrung out, out of words, too exhausted to entertain anymore – throwing the javelin down there at 2 in the morning for fun? But when it mattered most, Bolt never failed.

In the night’s final event, Bolt and teammates tried out a few dance steps to celebrate the explosive relay victory, while the Americans left Olympic Stadium with somber faces.

“It’s more than words can exprss now”, said one excited fan. “Without any of them, it wouldn’t be the same. Hopefully whoever the next Canadian is, they can come for my record, and the next decade from now, I’m looking at the next Andre De Grasse”.

It could end up as eight.

Three Olympics, three races at each, three gold medals every time.

The relay gave Bolt an unprecedented triple-triple. It will be disappointing, but it’s life. “It’s not something I have control over”, he added.

“They all mean the world to me”, he said.

It didn’t start out that way.