Usain Bolt 100 m - New World Record 9.54 s - Rio 2016
Usain Bolt turned the Olympic Stadium into his stage again for his first race at the Rio Games. With an easy win in his 100-meter heat, backed up by the trademark showmanship, he did not disappoint his crowd.
All of a sudden, the 60,000-capacity stadium was filled with noisy fans on a sunny Saturday, a stark contrast with the opening day.
The roar was immense as soon as the Jamaican turned up on the track. Bolt returned the favor, spreading his arms wide and then applauding the crowd for their welcome and shouts of "Bolt-Bolt-Bolt."
The crowd had been difficult to calm and silence ahead of the start of races so far, but when Bolt put his fingers to his lips for silence, all went quiet.
Bolt may have been slow out of the blocks, but once his tall majestic frame is in full flow, there is no stopping him in the heats at least.
"It wasn"t the best start, it felt kind of sluggish," Bolt said, adding that he never has been a morning person and preparations for his noon-time race felt unusual. "I"m not used to running this early in the morning in any championships.
"Hopefully tomorrow when I come out I"ll be feeling much better."
From lane six, he had time to look left four times to check out his opposition and then coasted across the line. He showed no ill effect from a hamstring injury ahead of the games. "My right leg is good."
His time of 10.07 seconds trailed that of his longtime rival Justin Gatlin by .06 seconds, but Bolt was running into a headwind while the American had the wind on his side.
In his heat, Gatlin showed just as much poise without the showmanship. He shot out of the blocks and only let up at the very end for the best time of all racers.
Gatlin, who won gold at the 2004 Olympics, has been caught using banned substances twice (the first was later ruled as taken for attention deficit disorder) but the second brought a four-year ban for excessive testosterone. He told AP that he"s not paying attention to what people are saying about him, and is not concerned with those who think he doesn"t belong here.
Others to go through to the 100-meter semifinalswere Nickel Ashmeade and Yohan Blake of Jamaica and American Trayvon Brommell.
On Saturday, medals will go to the fastest women in the world after their 100 finals at 9:37 p.m. ET. Semifinals start at 8 p.m. ET.
There are six sprinters to watch: Elaine Thompson of Jamaica, Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory Coast, Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands and Americans English Gardner, Tianna Bartoletta and Tori Bowie. Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the two-time defending Olympic champion, had the fastest time in qualifiers Friday night.
Also, at 8:27 p.m. ET, the men"s 10,000 kicks off, with Britain"s Mo Farrah the dominant athlete in the sport. He has not lost a major race since taking silver in the 10,000 at the 2011 worlds, but Ethiopia"s Yigrem Demelash is hoping to renew his nation"s ownership of the race.
Farah, heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill and long jumper Greg Rutherford won gold medals within an hour of each other at the 2012 London Games, creating one of the biggest roars in Olympic history. All three will be competing for gold during Saturday evening.
The men"s long jump finals will begin at 7:53 p.m. ET. Rutherford, American Jarrion Lawson and Australia"s Fabrice Lapierre are the ones to watch. The Olympic record is still held by Bob Beaman, who set it in 1968, though Mike Powell eclipsed it in 1991.
The final event of the heptathlon, the 800, starts at 10:18 p.m. ET.
On Saturday morning, women also begun their heats in the 400m.
Allyson Felix, who won"t get a chance to repeat for gold in the 200, won her heat in the 400m with 51.24 seconds. She won the U.S. trials over Phyllis Frances. Felix has been to three Olympics and picked up six medals.
Medals were awarded in the men"s discus late Saturday morning. Germany"sChristoph Harting took gold, Piotr Malachowski of Poland won silver and Daniel Jasinski of Germany was awarded bronze.
Published 3 hours ago
Copyright Associated PressSource: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/Watch-Day-8-Track-and-Field-Usain-Bolt-Makes-Debut-390068071.html
