Usain Bolt: I am the greatest
After completing a clean sweep of sprinting golds for the third successive Olympics, a jubilant Usain Bolt proclaimed: “There you go, I am the greatest.”
Bolt improved his perfect record in Olympic finals to nine wins from nine by anchoring Jamaica to victory in the 4×100 metre relay on Friday.
The peerless Jamaican will therefore depart Rio 2016 having once again claimed gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m, as he did in the previous Games in Beijing and London.
Bolt had stated an ambition to be ranked alongside sporting greats such as Pele and Muhammad Ali following his 200m win and was understandably triumphant following his latest success.
Having dubbed himself “the greatest”, he told the BBC: “I’m just happy to have done what I came here to do. I’m proud of myself and I have to give thanks to the guys [team-mates Asafa Powell, Nickel Ashmeade and Yohan Blake]. They really came through for me.
“The pressure is real, but I look at it as an accomplishment. I enjoy pressure. I live for these moments. I came through and I’m just proud of myself.
“I’ll stay up late tonight, just talking and having fun. I’m just happy, I’m just relieved. I’ve done it. I never knew from the start that this was going to happen to me. It’s just a brilliant feeling.”
Japan and Canada took silver and bronze behind Jamaica, the latter promoted from fourth after the United States were disqualified.
Powell, who ran the first leg for Jamaica, said: “It was never in doubt. We went out there very confident. I love running with these guys.
“The confidence we have, it’s hard to go out there with pressure.”
In a reference to Bolt, Powell added: “We just wanted to get the stick in that man’s hand.”
