The 200-metre final went as scripted, with Usain Bolt proving his dominance yet again Thursday and Canada's Andre De Grasse delivering another message to the sprint world.
The Jamaican ran the 200 in 19.78 seconds to easily win his third straight Olympic title in the event, adding to gold from Beijing and London. It also brings his career gold medal tally to eight, including his 100 victory on Sunday.
De Grasse, from Markham, Ont., comfortably took silver with a time of 20.02, a second Olympic medal to pair with his 100 bronze.
France's Christophe Lemaitre was awarded bronze, edging Great Britain's Adam Gemili in a photo finish after both were given a time of 20.12 seconds.
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| Usain Bolt dominates for 200-m gold, Andre De Grasse gets silver |
"I don't need to prove anything else. What else can I do to prove to the world I am the greatest?" said Bolt.
"I am trying to be one of the greatest. Be among [Muhammad] Ali and Pelé. I hope to be in that bracket after these Games."
How the race unfolded
It was a pure foot race, with slower times the result of a damp track and a -0.5 m/s head wind.
And it was clearly Bolt's race halfway around the bend, obliterating any ideas the 21-year-old Canadian might have had of beating the king.
A small storm of anticipation had built around the final, arising from De Grasse's unorthodox challenge of Bolt in their Wednesday semifinal. They grinned at each other as they ran across the finish line in that race, De Grasse in a Canadian record 19.80.
Tonight was much more serious.
"Yesterday I felt so good, ran a personal best, and today I felt pretty good in my warm-up and I tried to execute the best way I know how and I just came up a little bit short," De Grasse said, belying his desire to win.
"I was ready to try to challenge [Bolt] and he just ran away from me and I couldn't catch him. It is what it is."
Bolt summed up De Grasse's Olympics in a later interview, "He's proven to the world that he's going to be a great athlete, he's going to be one of the best."
And tonight Bolt stamped out all doubters, if there were any.
Again, he is the best. olympics.cbc.ca
