On this day 14 August 2016 (Exactly 4 years ago today) For 9.81 glorious seconds, all the ills that he dogged athletics were forgotten as Usain Bolt stormed to victory in the 100 meters final to become the first man to win three successive Olympic titles on the track.
The Jamaican superstar trailed arch-rival Justin Gatlin, roundly booed by the Rio crowd for his doping past, until the 70 meter mark but then swept past the American, finding time to pat his chest as he crossed the line a meter clear.
Gatlin, the 2004 champion who came into the race with the season’s fastest time of 9.80, took second in 9.89. Canada’s Andre de Grasse claimed bronze in 9.91 seconds – the same finishing order as in last year’s world championships.
Victory took Bolt a step closer to his goal of winning a historic “triple-triple” combination of gold in the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay in three consecutive Olympics.
Other than the 2011 world championships, when he was disqualified for a false start, Bolt has won every other global championship individual sprint race since 2008.
That equates to five Olympic golds and seven in the world championships. Throw in two more Olympic and four world championship 4x100m relay golds and the world record in all three events and that is total and utter domination.
“This is what we train for. I told you guys I was going to do it,” Bolt, 29, told reporters. “Stay tuned, two more to go.
“Somebody said I can become immortal. Two more medals to go and I can sign off. Immortal.”
Already assured of his legend status, Bolt also added to his reputation as sport’s number-one crowd pleaser as he took a leisurely circuit of the stadium, posing for pictures and shaking a thousand hands.
On this day 14 August 2016 (Exactly 4 years ago today) South African athlete Wayde van Niekerk set world record 43.03 to win the men’s 400m gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Exploding out of the blocks in lane eight, Wayde van Niekerk didn’t see another runner during the entire Olympic 400-meter final.
He didn’t need to. It was just him against the clock.
The South African sprinter broke Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old world record in Rio de Janeiro, leaving two of the greatest one-lap runners of this era in his dust.
Van Niekerk finished in 43.03 seconds — 0.15 seconds faster than Johnson ran on Aug. 26, 1999 in Seville, Spain. To think, Johnson’s mark was considered one of the almost untouchable records in track, too
“I was running blind all the way,” Van Niekerk explained. “I thought someone was going to catch me — what’s going on, what’s going on, and it gave me motivation to keep on pushing”.
The then 24-year-old Van Niekerk leaned at the finish line, which he really didn’t need to do as Kirani James of Grenada and LaShawn Merritt of the Unites States weren’t even in the picture. James, the defending Olympic champion, finished with the silver and Merritt, who won gold eight years earlier in Beijing, hung on for bronze as he staggered across the line.
On this day 14 August 2016 (Exactly 4 years ago today) Great Britain’s Andy Murray became the first player to win back-to-back Olympic singles titles in tennis, a sport that featured on the programme between 1896 and 1924 and had demonstration status from 1968 to 1984 before making a full return to the Games at Seoul 1988.
Victorious against Roger Federer in the London 2012 final, Murray, who was his country’s flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony in Rio, retained his title with a gruelling four-set victory over Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro. In outlasting his dogged opponent to win 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, the Scot wrote his name in the Olympic record books.
On this day 14 August 2016 (Exactly 4 years ago today) Kenya’s Jemima Sumgong won women’s marathon gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2:24:04; Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) took silver, and Mare Dibaba (Ethiopia) bronze.
On this day 14 August 2016 (Exactly 4 years ago today) Justin Rose of Great Britain finished with a score of 16 under par to win the inaugural men’s individual golf gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; Rose was 2 strokes ahead of Henrik Stenson (Sweden) and 3 from American Matt Kuchar.
On this day 14 August 1920 (Exactly 100 years ago today) The 7th Olympic Games was officially opened in Antwerp with 29 participating nations, 2,626 athletes (2,561men & 65 women) 156 events in 22 sports.
On this day 14 August 1932(Exactly 88 years ago today ) 10th Olympic Games at Los Angeles was closed. Athletes from 27 NOCs won medals, of which 19 won at least one gold medal. As a result, 10 NOCs failed to win any medals.
On this day 14 August 1948(Exactly 72 years ago today ) 14th Olympic games closed at London, Great Britain with the United States topping the medal table with 84 medals including 38 gold.
On this day day 14 August 2004 (Exactly 16 years ago today) The Australian women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay team of Alice Mills, Lisbeth Lenton, Petria Thomas & Jodie Henry smash the world record to take gold in 3:35.94 at the Athens Olympics.
On this day 14 August 2008 (Exactly 12 years ago today) Australian women’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay team of Stephanie Rice, Broncte Barratt, Kylie Palmer & Linda Mackenzie swum world record 7:44.31 to beat China and take the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.
On this day 14 August 1983 (Exactly 37 years ago today) 1st IAAF World Championships in Athletics was closed in Helsinki, Finland. East Germany took the most gold medals (10) over the first championships and finished with a total of 22 medals.
The United States had the next largest number of golds, with eight, and also had the greatest overall medal haul, having won 24 medals altogether. The Soviet Union won one more medal than the East Germans and had six golds, although almost half of their podium finishers were bronze medalists. Twenty-five nations reached the medal tally at the inaugural competition, with all six continents being represented.
On this day 14 August 1903 (Exactly 117 years ago today) James J Jeffries knocked out James J Corbett in round 10 to retain his world heavyweight boxing title at the Mechanic’s Pavilion, San Francisco, California, United States.
On this day 14 August 2019 (Exactly a year ago today) French woman Stephanie Frappart became the first woman to referee a major match in a European men’s tournament as Liverpool won the UEFA Super Cup for the fourth time in their history by beating Chelsea 5-4 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in Istanbul
The Reds came from behind, only to then spurn the lead themselves in extra time, and eventually needed spot kicks to prevail. Goalkeeper Adrián, playing due to an Alisson Becker injury, was the unlikely hero.
By: George ‘Alan Green’ Mahamah
