Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
Bolt rules Britannia again
WINNING MOMENT: The Jamaican star crosses the line ahead of his rivals.
….as fastest man on the planet sprints to victory at Anniversary Games
Rocket man Usain Bolt recovered from an awful start to light up the Olympic Stadium once again on Friday night as he won the 100 metres in 9.85 seconds. The Jamaican returned to the scene of his triple London 2012 triumph, but was made to sweat before blasting through to take the victory.
The 26-year-old entered the arena atop a missile for his customary lap of honour before the action, but this run hardly fired out a major statement of intent ahead of next month’s World Championships.
It was still his fastest time of the year, though, and in the end he was a comfortable winner, with Mike Rodgers second in 9.98secs.
Great Britain’s newest sprint star James Dasaolu was unable to test himself against the world’s fastest man. Dasaolu, who ran 9.91s in Birmingham earlier this month, had to withdraw as a precaution after feeling a tight hip flexor in the warm-up.
Flashbulbs galore and a roar to rival those heard at the Olympics greeted Bolt when he was introduced to the crowd ahead of the race.
His time was an improvement on his previous best this year of 9.94 and lifted him up to second in the rankings behind Tyson Gay, who is under a doping cloud, but it was still relatively sluggish by his stratospheric standards.
Not that that bothered the capacity 60,000 crowd in east London as they relived London 2012 one year on for the first of the three-day Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games.
The Jamaican was back at the venue where he became a self-proclaimed ‘legend’ by defending his 100, 200 and 4x100m titles and lapped up the acclaim. Bolt said: ‘The crowd here is unbelievable. They’re wonderful. It’s good to be back here. I’ve got a lot of love for this stadium and this crowd.
‘I’m feeling good. It was nice to get the win and I’m confident going in to Moscow.’ Bolt’s fellow Jamaican Nesta Carter was third in 9.99, with Dwain Chambers fifth in 10.10 in the race run in balmy conditions.
The feel-good factor of last summer was in full evidence around the Olympic Park beforehand as fans kitted out in London 2012 gear assembled in the sun. Fans had queued up at the gates from the afternoon in the forlorn hope of getting tickets, with the stadium long since sold out for the event.
There was certainly a party atmosphere inside the stadium, with every British athlete greeted with the cheer they could not get enough of last year. Ever the showman, Bolt performed a lap of honour for his adoring fans at the end, even throwing his spikes into the crowd.
After all, this was the world’s fastest man’s first appearance on these shores outside of the Olympics since 2009, with Chancellor George Osborne granting a one-off tax exemption for overseas athletes taking part.
This was also a chance to put the focus firmly on the athletics following the doping scandal which has rocked the sport, with Asafa Powell as well as Gay testing positive. Bolt was grilled on the topic at Thursday’s press conference, and forced to defend his own record-breaking achievements, but one day on and Bolt’s legs did all the talking.
He said yesterday that he was ‘made to inspire people’ as he explained why fans should believe he was 100 per cent clean and it was hard to argue with him. The 26-year-old received the usual hero’s welcome when he arrived at the start of the evening, posing, dancing and saluting the crowd as he completed a circuit of the stadium on the rocket, complete with Jamaican flag. (Mail Online)
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