Bolt Crowned Olympic 100m Champion For Historic Third Time After Recovering From Slow Start To Beat Gatlin In A Time Of 9.81sec

Jamaican runner Usain Bolt proved too fast for his rivals once again as the Jamaican won gold in the 100m at the Rio Olympics

 Bolt's dream of claiming an unprecedented ‘triple-triple’ of sprint titles in Rio was still alive after he stormed to 100 metres victory in 9.81 seconds on Sunday night, beating America’s Justin Gatlin into second.

In a repeat of the result at last year’s World Championships Bolt got a predictably terrible start but came from behind to overhaul drugs cheat Gatlin, who clocked 9.89, in the dying metres. Canada’s Andre de Grasse clinched the bronze medal in a personal best 9.91. 

Bolt entered the arena with his arms outstretched like the saviour of the sport many believe him to be and raised his finger to his mouth to silence the crowd at the start. 

He has not lost an Olympic race since 2008 and later this week will go for glory again in the 200m and 4 x 100m. If he can achieve that unmatched he would fly back to Jamaica two days before his 30th birthday with a total of nine Olympic gold medals in his possession.

Ever the entertainer, he put on a yellow Jamaica baseball cap to do his lap of honour, embracing delighted members of the crowd and posing for selfies.

Bolt’s previous best time was 9.88 and he had been forced to withdraw from the Jamaican national championships with injury whereas Gatlin arrived in Rio having run the quickest time in the world this year, a 9.80 dash at the USA trials in Eugene. The stage had been set for a nightmare scenario to unfold.

It is perhaps over-simplistic to claim that this was a race of good against evil but there was no question over the result wanted by the custodians of a sport which has suffered brutal and repeated blows to its credibility over the last year.

Controversy is a constant bed- fellow for Gatlin but it has intensified during this Olympics with even his compatriots arguing that he has no right to be in Rio. The gold medal-winning swimmer Lilly King was asked about his inclusion in the USA delegation and replied: ‘Do I think someone who has been caught for doping should be on the team? No, I don’t.’