Bolt blasts back to his best – and targets 200m test
AT THE OLYMPIC STADIUM
SPRINT superstar Usain Bolt hit back at his critics after successfully defending his 100m crown in Olympic record time – but insists he must retain his 200m title too in order to be deemed “a legend”.
The Jamaican emphatically answered doubts over his fitness and form by running the second fastest time ever – 9.63 seconds – to beat training partner Yohan Blake into silver and American Justin Gatlin into bronze in London last night.
It came after Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu snatched a battling 400m silver, while elsewhere medals for sailor Ben Ainslie, Andy Murray and Laura Robson in tennis, gymnasts Louis Smith and Max Whitlock and cyclist Ed Clancy kept Team GB third in the medal table.
Bolt said: “It really means a lot because a lot of people doubted me and were saying I wasn’t going to win; there was lot of talk. For me it was an even greater feeling to come out here and show the world that I’m still the No1, I’m still the best.
“That’s the first step for me. I have to win my 200m title also and then I’ll be considered a legend. That’s just one step in the door.
“I said it on the track, people can talk, but when it comes to championships it is all about business for me and I brought it. It was wonderful. I knew [the crowd] would be like this, I can feel that energy and I am extremely happy.”
British sprint hopes Adam Gemili and Dwain Chambers both narrowly failed to make the final, but the former, at just 18, showed huge promise to finish his semi-final third in 10.06.
Ohuruogu, the only Briton to win track gold in Beijing four years ago, pipped DeeDee Trotter to silver by two hundredths of a second but could not catch Trotter’s fellow American, Sanya Richards-Ross.
The Newham athlete, 28, found herself in sixth coming off the bend but strained every sinew to surge into second on the line, and insists she is ready to run again at Rio 2016.
“I was kind of hoping that I’d retire soon, but my coach won’t let me,” she joked. “When I told him I wanted to retire he gave me some evil look and I got a lecture – so I’ll keep going I suppose.
“I was initially disappointed with the medal but it was so uplifting to be in that stadium and have people that were just so proud of you despite not getting the result I wanted. It was really quite emotional.”
Of the other Brits in action last night, triple-jumper Yamile Aldama could only finish fifth in the women’s final, but Perri Shakes-Drayton and Eilidh Child qualified from their 400m hurdles and Robbie Grabarz progressed from the qualifying round of the high jump.