RIO DE JANEIRO — The incomparable Usain Bolt powered his way around the Rio track to win the Olympic 200-meter gold for the third straight Games in 19.78 seconds on Thursday and remain on course for an extraordinary “triple-triple” of sprint titles.
The Jamaican laid waste to the best of the rest in the sprinting world to win his eighth track gold medal in what he has said will be his last individual race at the Olympics before his retirement next year.
“I don’t need to prove anything else. What else can I do to prove to the world I am the greatest?” Bolt told reporters.
“I am trying to be one of the greatest. Be among (Muhammad) Ali and Pele. I hope to be in that bracket after these Games.”
Andre de Grasse of Canada, who won bronze behind Bolt in the 100 meters, finished second in 20.02 seconds to claim his second sprint medal of the Games and establish himself as the heir apparent to the Sprint King.
Christophe Lemaitre of France secured his first major individual medal by taking bronze, edging out Adam Gemili of Britain in a photo finish after they were both awarded the same time of 20.12.
Bolt, who turns 30 on Sunday, will return to the track on Friday with his Jamaican relay teammates looking for a 4×100 gold to complete the sweep of all three sprint titles at three successive Olympics.
Even the prospect of witnessing a once-in-a-century athlete in his pomp was not enough to fill the Rio Olympic Stadium but what the crowd lacked in numbers, they made up for in noise as they welcomed Bolt to the track like a rock star.
Eaton repeats as decathlon champ
American Ashton Eaton won his second straight Olympic decathlon gold medal on Thursday, extending his reign in a sport whose champion earns the title of the world’s greatest athlete.
Eaton edged France’s Kevin Mayer, who had threatened his position with strong showings in the pole vault and javelin throw, into the silver medal position.
The twice world champion became just the third man to win the Olympic decathlon twice, a feat last achieved by Briton Daley Thompson at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
“To win two Olympic golds in a row like Daley Thompson is very special. One day, I’m going to have to meet Daley, shake his hand and thank him for giving me something to chase after,” Eaton told reporters after tearfully embracing his Canadian wife Brianne Theisen-Eaton who won the bronze medal in the women’s heptathlon.
Eaton, whose performance fell short of the world record he set last year in Beijing, said he had worked to improve his throwing events.
“My throwing has been bad in the past, but I really got after the discus and shot here,” Eaton said.
Canadian Damian Warner, who beat the 28-year-old Eaton in the 100 meters with an Olympic best time of 10.3 seconds as well as in the 110-meter hurdles, snagged the bronze.
“I came here with mindset of gold but there are a lot of tough competitors out there in decathlon,” Warner said. “I am proud of myself. I feel like the luckiest athlete in the world.”
Eaton won two of the 10 events — the long jump and 400 — and finished second to Warner in the 100 meters and 110 hurdles.
His final score of 8,893 points tied the Olympic record set in 2004 by Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic.
American takes 400 hurdles title
Dalilah Muhammad of the United States led from start to finish to take the gold medal on Thursday in the women’s Olympic 400 meters hurdles.
Denmark’s Sara Slott Petersen won the silver medal ahead of Ashley Spencer of the United States, with world champion Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic managing only fourth.
With steady rain pouring down at the Olympic stadium, Muhammad shot out of the blocks, rose quickest at the first hurdle and never looked like being overtaken.
She clocked 53.13 seconds to win by a margin of 0.42.
US 4×100 relay advances after appeal
The United States grasped its second chance to reach the Olympic women’s 4×100-meter final with both hands on Thursday, racing alone around the Rio track in 41.77 seconds to knock China out of the last eight.
The reigning champions appealed against the result of their morning heat, in which Allyson Felix dropped the second baton exchange, arguing that the four-time Olympic gold medalist had been bumped by a Brazilian athlete before the handover.
The appeal was upheld and the Americans were given a target of beating 42.70 seconds to qualify for the final in place of China, the slowest of the original finalists. Brazil was disqualified for obstructing the U.S.
The time was easily within the capability of the world record holders and Tianna Bartoletta, Felix, English Gardner and Morolake Akinosun ensured there would be no mistake with the second fastest time of the year.
The United States will join Jamaica, Britain, Germany, Ukraine, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago and Canada in Friday’s final.
Serbia ousts US women’s volleyball
The Serbian women’s volleyball team eliminated the world’s top-ranked team, the United States, on Thursday in a shock upset after the undefeated Americans lost their top player to a leg injury.
Serbia, playing in its first Olympic semifinal, was riding high after sending Russia home two days earlier and defeated the United States 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 16-25, 15-13 in a five-set clash that could have gone either way.
The U.S. team won the first set but Serbia, driven on by their formidable spiker Brankica Mihajlovic, took control after America’s top-scoring middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo went off with a left knee injury sustained in the opening set.
Athlete loses medal for doping with rat poison
Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medalist weightlifter Izzat Artykov was stripped of his medal on Thursday after being found to have the rat poison strychnine in his system.
The Kyrgyz lifter became the first medalist at these Games to test positive for a banned substance, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said.
Strychnine, a highly toxic alkaloid, is ordinarily used as a pesticide for killing rodents. When ingested, strychnine causes muscular convulsions before death through asphyxia.
Those convulsions had been thought to be beneficial in tiny doses in the past, and in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was used in small doses as an athletic performance enhancer, and recreational stimulant.
At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri, Thomas Hicks won the marathon thanks in part to several doses of strychnine, egg whites and brandy administered by his trainer mid-race, historians say, in the first recorded instance of drug use in the modern Olympics.
Strychnine, reportedly used widely by cyclists in the early days of the Tour de France, is defined as a stimulant in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances.