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Usain Bolt gives Thomas Bach a crystal clear message

15th August, 2016
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Usain Bolt - the sportsman of the year. (AFP PHOTO / OLIVIER MORIN)
Expert
15th August, 2016
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It took the mighty Usain Bolt just 41 strides and 9.81 seconds to deliver what the world was hoping for – a clean charismatic champion beating a two-time drug cheat Justin Gatlin for blue ribband 100-metre track gold.

The Rio Olympic Stadium has had many empty seats until Bolt graced the arena, with more than 60,000 jamming the facility. From the sound of it, they all wanted to thunderously support the champion and deliver the boos to Gatlin.

The message was loud and clear to IOC boss Thomas Bach – there’s no room for drug cheats in the Olympic Games.

I don’t know if Bach was there as Bolt delivered the first of his triple treats, with the 200 and relay to go.

Bach is a lawyer, so it would be reasonable to assume he would be bright enough to know the Bolt-Gatlin confrontation was the Mt Everest of the Rio Games.

In fact, I haven’t seen Bach at any venue since the opening ceremony.

He has copped so much rightful stick for not banning Russia in total from Rio. His counterpart for the Paralympics Sir Philip Craven had the bottle to ban Russia altogether.

Had Bach been at the pool he would have heard the boos for the Russian swimmers, or at the velodrome for more boos for Russian cyclists, but both were dwarfed by the Gatlin response which was huge.

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At 45 metres Gatlin had a lead of over a metre, and I admit I thought Bolt was in big trouble.

I should have known better and had more faith as Bolt shifted his 195cm-95kg frame into top gear to cruise past Gatlin at 75 metres to win.

And he did so despite the rank amateur officials who organised the final only an hour after the semi instead of the traditional two.

The more we hear about the Rio Games, the stuff-ups, the green pools, the crime rate, and the dangers, the more Rio should never have beaten Tokyo, Madrid, and Chicago for the honour seven years ago.

The IOC Evaluation Commission rated Rio 6.4, but rated Tokyo 8.3, Madrid 8.1,and Chicago 7.0, so how in hell did Rio get the nod?

There’s only one safe way after Tokyo in 2020 and that’s to make Athens the permanent home of the Olympics, built around historic Mt Olympus.

The IOC build the stadiums, the major sporting countries build their own base, and chip in for a general village to house the poorer nations.

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The permanent venue could also be used for world championships in so many sports, making full use of the facilities and not becoming a white elephant like the Sydney Olympic Stadium after Sydney 2000.

No more massive costs of hosting the Olympic Games, no worries about the venues being sub-standard, no more worries about electricity, gas, and below standard accommodation, no chance of corruption or illegal money changing hands, and no more junkets by IOC delegates travelling the world six-star judging possible future hosting cities.

And ban all drug cheats for life to stop relying on a genius like Usain Bolt keeping the Games clean.

The new Olympic Games motto should be ‘if you must cheat, you can’t compete’.

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