You can read our report from tonight’s 100m final here:
And the 400m final here:
And follow the rest of today’s action here:
A final word from the man himself:
Jamaica Stand Up!!!
— Usain St. Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) August 15, 2016
This for you my people
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph earlier this year, Bolt talked about three men always being listed as the three greatest of all time: Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Pele. He wanted to be added to that list. Three 100m old medals in three Olympics, a brilliant showman and that’s before we get to the 200m and relay medals. He deserves to be on that list now.
Michael Johnson has spoken on the BBC about Bolt’s victory. You may want to read this as he knows a bit about things such as being ridiculously brilliant:
“That was a fantastic performance by Usain Bolt, he slowed down and said ‘I’ve got this’. It wasn’t about the time, it was just about winning the gold and going out on top. I didn’t expect the race to unfold the way it did.
“Gatlin got a great start but it was always within Usain Bolt’s reach because he is healthy. He has been an amazing ambassador for this sport and in creating a brand for himself and the Jamaican athletes.”
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Caterine Ibarguen wins triple jump gold for Colombia
Lost amid the Usain Bolt furore was the news that Colombia had won their second gold medal of these Games, thanks to Caterine Ibarguen’s triumph in the triple jump. Her jump of 15.17m was good enough, beating off Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela, who took silver, and Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan, who won bronze. Keturah Orji of USA finished fourth.
Ibarguen, who was beaten by Rypakova in London, now holds the world and Olympic titles.
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Bolt is surrounded by interviewers but he holds up his hand. He wants to greet someone before he speaks. Who do you speak to at a time like this? Who could possibly be on your level? Oh, fair enough - he’s gone to chat to Wayde van Niekerk, the fastest 400m final of all time. The pair embrace as the cameras flash. Now newspaper editors don’t need to decide who to put on the front page tomorrow.
Top four times: Bolt: 9.81sec, Gatlin: 9.89sec, De Grasse: 9.91sec, Blake: 9.93sec
Bolt continues to greet the crowd. Do you know anyone who dislikes Usain Bolt? Champions usually have a few people, typically on Twitter, who hate them. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone complain about having to watch Bolt win yet another race.
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It’s Usain Bolt’s birthday next week - I imagine a trip the cinema to watch Jason Bourne and then dinner at a mid-priced restaurant may be a bit of a comedown. Although apparently the new Bourne film is pretty good.
Bolt goes to greet the crowd, giving out hugs and handshakes - pretty much makes 10 or 20 people’s lifetimes in the process. The first replays come through, Gatlin got a great start and it took Bolt until around 85m for the Jamaican to catch him. As we’ve seen so many times before in major finals, his rivals were tightening up and Bolt was flowing.
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Bolt greets the crowd - he has the Olympic mascot in his arms. A toy version, not some poor guy dressed as the mascot.
Usain Bolt wins the 100m final
The athletes are introduced, Gatlin booed and cheered (no one ignores him though). He just stares forward. Bolt gives us his easy smile, it’s good being Usain. Bolt crosses himself on the block. Concentrate Usain it’s the final! Gatlin gets a great start but Bolt surges back to win in 9.81! Gatlin wins silver, De Grasse, the 2020 Olympic champion, gets bronze.
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And here we are for the 100m final. Bolt v Gatlin. Bolt looked the stronger man in the semis, starting slow and still winning in 9.85sec. If you’re looking for an outsider, look to Canada’s Andre De Grasse, who looks like a future champion at only 21. Bolt is 29 and Gatlin 34 so we may as well forecast ahead now.
Michael Johnson on Wayde van Niekerk breaking his world record
A very gracious Michael Johnson on the man who has just beaten his longstanding world record with a run that still has this stadium abuzz.
“It was great to see as a fan of the sport. People ask me all the time how long my record is going to last. You never know. It’s always a joy and a surprise to see a world record. This atmosphere needed it, to get this championship really going. He was under tremendous pressure and I think that helped him as well, knowing that LeShawn Merritt and Kirani James were going to put him under pressure,” he said on the BBC.
The medal ceremony for the heptathlon now. The 2012 champion Jessica Ennis-Hill accepts her silver medal with a smile, a class act as always. And then the new generation - the 21 year old Nafissatou Thiam is given the gold. She put in a string of personal bests to win. She’s in tears on the podium.
Wayde van Niekerk is still only 24 - there could be more world records for him. Certainly more medals. We can’t show you a replay here - thanks IOC! - but if you want to simulate the world record (43.03sec), watch this and imagine there’s a South African guy ahead of Michael Johnson:
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For the record, James won silver and Merritt the bronze. All three men ran inside 44 seconds. The other two would have won the race in almost any other race. The remarkable thing is that Van Niekerk got faster as the race went on. He was good for another 400m.
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Wayde van Niekerk wins the 400m final and breaks the world record!
And now to the men’s 400m final. The country with the most athletes in this one is USA, Jamaica, Russian, ... Grenada. They’re represented by the Olympic champion Kirani James. LaShawn Merritt, the 2008 champion, runs for the US.
And we’re off. Van Niekerk is off quickly and he has the lead in the final 100m and he sprints away! And breaks the world record! He has broken Michael Johnson’s world record. I thought it was unbreakable! The world champion is now the Olympic champion.
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A word from our correspondent Owen Gibson at the Olympic Stadium:
A lively atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium tonight, with a particularly vociferous band of Colombians backing the imperious Caterine Ibarguen in the women’s triple jump. Plenty of Jamaican flags in evidence too. Still, it should be all but full. It is the blue riband night of what is still - despite all the lying, the cheating and the corruption - the number one sport in the Games. For just under 10 seconds at 10.25pm local time, it will be the centre of the world. In fact, it’s a bit disappointing to see any empty seats at all. Justin Gatlin was well received yesterday in his heat but quite loudly booed tonight ahead of the semi finals. As you would expect, it’s quite clear who the majority of the crowd want to win the 100m final - and it’s not the American.
Rypakova, the champion from 2012, is lying third in the triple jump final. She doesn’t look happy. Maybe she’s a triple jumping psychic because shortly afterwards Venezuela’s Rojas records a jump of 14.98m, way better than the champion. Next up the leader Caterine Ibarguen is good for 15.17m - that jump is very strong, further than the one that put her into first.
Genzebe Dibaba, the world record holder, goes in the second 1500m final. Hard to see her not winning this one, or at least coasting into the final and letting someone else have their moment in the sun. USA’s Jenny Simpson goes off quickly and has a very small gap going into the second lap. GB’s Laura Muir, the second fastest at this distance in the world in 2016, moves up as we go into lap three. Dibaba looks comfortable though we hear the bell for the final lap, and she takes off breaking the pack apart. Muir and Hassan of the Netherland follow her to finish second and third. Simpson gets fourth some way back, with Sweden’s Bahta fifth. That was a second quicker than the first semi. That’s what happens when you have the best runner in the world competing, I suppose.
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Women’s 1500m semi-finals now. There are two semis - the top five from each heat advance, along with the two fastest losers. Weightman of GB and Buckman of Australia have the early lead. Kipyegon of Kenya begins to take control at the midway point though, stretching out the field with Sado of Ethiopia. Kipyegon takes the win, with USA’s Rowbury making a late surge to take third behind Seyaum. Weightman got the fifth automatic place.
Caterine Ibarguen has just put in a big leap(s) of 15.03m in the women’s triple jump. That puts her in first place, and could be good enough to win outright - 14.98m was good enough to win in 2012.
USA’s Trayvon Bromell and South Africa’s Akani Simbine get through to the 100m final as fastest losers/least fast champions.
The third semi-final (cheers). Britain’s James Dasaolu is introduced first in lane one. The great Yohan Blake, silver medallist in 2012, is in lane three. And then Justin Gatlin, the 2004 champion and now 34 has a ... mixed reception. Gatlin was the fastest qualifier from the heats. Gatlin is out quickly - quicker than Bolt was in his semi - but records a slower time than the Jamaican as he wins in 9.95sec. Blake got second. Bolt was the better runner in the semis. He must now be favourite.
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And here comes Bolt! You may have been able to tell from the roar that could be heard in Peru. Kim Collins WHO IS IN HIS 40s is here too, what an athlete. The man who may one day succeed Bolt lines up, the fabulously talented Andre De Grasse. As is USA’s Bromell and Britain’s Chijindu Ujah. False start, Bahrain’s Andrew Fisher. Bolt starts SLOWLY - that doesn’t matter though, he wins in 9.86. De Grasse follows him and has enough time to look round not once but three time as he comes in second. Yep, Usain still has it. Bromell took third from Ujah, I think.
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So now we have the semi-finals of the 100m. The top two from the three semis go through, with the two fastest losers getting a chance to finish seventh in the final. A surprise winner here could be China’s Xie Zhenye, a 200m specialist who recorded a lightning time in the heats. Ben Youssef Meïté of Ivory Coast will also be a threat. It’s the weakest of the three semis anyway. Scratch my predictions they’re rubbish, Vicaut of France with 9.95, who struggled in the heats, wins ahead of Meïté.
We have the women’s triple jump final tonight. The top in qualifiers was Caterine Ibarguen of Colombia, the silver medal winner in 2012. Third in the qualifying was Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan, the 2012 champion. The men’s long jumpers got drummers when they were introduced last night, nothing for the triple jumpers though. Maybe the drummers had a job elsewhere tonight - Sundays can be busy on the Rio drumming scene.
2016’s two fastest women’s 400m runners go in the final semi-final, Allyson Felix (the world champion) and Shaunae Miller. On paper, the top two should be fixed but Christine Day is a big threat too. Felix flows down the first 200m - not that surprising for the Olympic 200m champion. Felix wins ahead of Miller, the surprise is the Italian Grenot who coasts in third and will go through to the final as a fastest loser/least fast champion. Felix’s time of 49.67 was the fastest of the semi-finals.
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The second semi-final of the 400m now. Shericka Jackson of Jamaica, the world championship bronze medallist will run. The US veteran Natasha Hastings - the fastest woman in the field - lines up alongside the talented Aussie Morgan Mitchell. Let’s see how they go. Hastings goes off hard, sprinting away from Mitchell. It’s Jackson and Hastings leading comfortably in the final 100. Jackson wins it but they’re so far ahead of the others, it’s kind of trivial. Both women finish a shade inside 50 seconds. Jackson looks amazed at her time, a personal best.
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The athletes are making their way out for the first semi-final of the women’s 400m. It will include the former Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu. There are three semi-finals with the top two from each race going through along with the two fastest losers. Or if you’re more positive - the two least fast champions. As usual the commentator describes the athletes, fully grown women, as “girls” but just as I’m about to cry sexism he describes their fellow runners as “boys”. Touché sir!
McPherson of Jamaica and USA’s Francis start the race as favourites. Adekoya of Bahrain flashes out of the blocks, and then McPherson sweeps round the bend. Francis finished strongly to win with McPherson hanging on for second. Zemlyak nearly got second on the line. Ohuruogu finished down the field, her 400m is over.
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Just in case you want a few refreshers from four years ago:
And if you want to see where it really took off for Usain Bolt:
I still remember - not that impressive it was only eight years ago - watching the 2008 100m final. I was pretty drowsy after doing a load of night shifts because of the time difference and being shocked into clarity by Bolt’s performance. It was one of those rare moments that leaps out of the TV and smacks you in the face. Like Brazil being trampled 7-1 in their own backyard at the 2014 World Cup, or the first episode of Joey.
Hello! And welcome to this evening’s coverage from the Olympic stadium where we have a huge evening ahead. Gasp as those wonderful flying men battle it out in the high jump qualifying! Scream with delight as we watch the 1500m semi-finals! Be amazed as journalists take selfies with the track in the background! Delight as news leaks in of the badminton qualifiers!
Oh, and it’s the 400m final too.
OK, we have the 100m final as well. Happy now?
Tom will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s Barney Ronay on Bolt v Gatlin on Saturday:
What a difference a day makes. After the rain-sodden minor chords of Friday’s opening day of the Rio 2016 athletics, the Olympic stadium was transformed on the second morning. With Usain Bolt, the world’s lone through-the-roof athletic superstar due in town, the swooping stands of this ramped-up old football ground were re-cast into a fun, fizzy sun-drenched place, three-quarters full by noon and with a crackle of something authentically Olympian in the air.
As Bolt emerged at 12.37pm to take to the blocks for his opening heat of these games, a huge rolling cheer erupted around the stands, a sound unlike anything heard so far. This was wilder, shriller, more to do with presence and stature, the pure event-glamour only Bolt brings to proceedings. He worked the crowd, shooting off into a practice start, then turning to applaud magisterially the Bolt-mania from the people craning from the bleachers.
Everyone loves a star, just as everybody loves a little glimpse of something ultimate, some pure human white heat. There were huge cheers again as the face of the quickest man in history appeared on the big screen, followed by profound, gulping silence in the crouch for the gun.
Read the full article here:
