Bolt: I am the greatest

Jamaican sprinter,  Usain Bolt captured the gold medal in his usual dramatic manner in the 200-meter dash at the Rio Games and the eighth of his Olympic career on Thursday night.

Though he failed to beat his world record of 19.19 seconds and Olympic record of 19.30 seconds, his 19.78-second time Thursday was enough to solidify his position as one of the greatest athletes.

Bolt has already make history as the first sprinter to win the 100-meter dash in back-to-back-to-back Olympics.

“I was not pleased with my time. Even if you run a world record you still want to run faster, but my legs decided they aren’t having it and I was so tired I lost my form on the last part of the race. But the key thing is that you guys know I won and the only thing that matters is the gold medal,” Bolt said after the race.

 “There are no words to explain,” Bolt said. “Eight time Olympic Champion. The 200 means a lot more to me and I have been enjoying it.

“There is nothing else I can do. I have proven to the world that I’m the greatest. That’s what I came here for and that’s what I’ve been doing. That is why it’s my last Olympics. I can’t prove anything else.”

“When I went to Athens in 2004 I just went there and I didn’t go through from the first round,” Bolt said. “All I wanted to do was run the 200 meter and win an Olympic gold medal once.”

Bolt now has the opportunity of increasing his gold medal haul on Friday night as he will join the Jamaican team in the 4×100-meter relay with the possibility of meeting his desired three gold medals in the same three events over the course of three Olympics.

But the sprinter is tempering his excitement over that possibility with caution: “It’s my last individual event at the Olympics. In the relays you never know what will happen. So I just wanted to say goodbye.”