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Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, cruised into the Rio Games 100m track semis overnight, to open his campaign to become the first athlete in Olympic history to win the same three events for a record third consecutive time.
The Jamaican, who will be 30 next Sunday, won the 100m, 200m, and 4×100 relay treble in 2008 in Beijing, and 2012 in London.
So far he has equalled American Archie Hahn in 1904 and 1908 and another American Carl Lewis in 1984 and 1988 to win successive 100m gold.
Another treble in Rio will see Bolt stand alone with three trebles in successive Games- a feat unlikely to be ever matched.
It will take him to nine track and field gold to equal the flying Finn Paavo Nurmi, and Lewis.
Nurmi won the 10,000m in 1920 and 1928, the 5,000m in 1924,and 1928, the 1,500m in 1924, the individual cross country in 1920 and 1924, and the team cross country in the same years. .
Lewis won Olympic gold four times in the long jump – 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996, the two 100m gold, one 200m gold in 1984, and two relays in 1984 and 1992.
Lewis and American Al Oerter are the only track and field athletes to win the same event four times – Lewis the long jump, and Oerter the discus in 1956, 1960, 1964, and 1968.
For Bolt to join them he will have to compete in Tokyo in four years time, but he consistently stated Rio will definitely be his last.
We’ll see.
Evergreen St Kitts and Nevis sprinter Kim Collins is still going strong in Rio at 40 years of age with 10.18 overnight in his fifth Games.
He competed in the 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 Games, but was sensationally sacked by his team-mates for London 2012 for missing a training session to see his wife.
Meanwhile, the Mack Horton-Sun Yang controversy in the pool over Yang’s past drug suspension will be revisited with the expected 100m confrontation between a clean Bolt and American Justin Gatlin who spent four years under suspension for testing positive twice.
Bolt has already made it crystal clear Gatlin, and every drug positive athlete, should be banned for life from Olympic competition.
Overnight Gatlin was the fastest of the Rio semi qualifiers with 10.01, Bolt stopped the clock at 10.07, switching off at 90m – both ran into a strong head wind.
Just to make it even more interesting, Gatlin’s recorded the fastest 100m times of the last year with a 9.74, and two 9.75s.
Bolt’s most recent best was 9.63 in London four years ago.
This promises to be the head-to-head of the Games.