Usain Bolt surges past Justin Gatlin to win historic Olympic 100m gold in Rio

• Jamaican becomes first athlete to win three successive 100m titles
• American Gatlin comes in second with Andre De Grasse of Canada third

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt celebrates after he won the men’s 100m final. Photograph: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images

“Bolt! Bolt! Bolt!” they cried, feverishly and repeatedly, revelling in Usain Bolt’s every pose, wave and smile. And, most of all, in his victory. The Jamaican had promised the world he would create history in Rio and he proved good to his word, brushing past his great American rival Justin Gatlin with 25m to go to coast to become the first man to win three Olympic 100m titles.

The time was nothing special – 9.81 seconds – but at this stage of his career he knows scavenging for titles is more realistic than world record times. This win lifted Bolt above Carl Lewis – who won 100m gold in Los Angeles and Seoul – and he now has seven gold medals to his name. On this evidence only a brave man would back against him making that nine after the 200m and 4x100m relay later this week. 

‘It wasn’t a perfect race, but the fact is that I won,’ said Usain Bolt after his third 100m victory in succession at the Olympics. Photograph: Amin Mohammad Jamali/Getty Images

Behind Bolt trailed Gatlin, his great rival, who took silver again in 9.89. The best of the next generation, the Canadian Andre De Grasse, claimed bronze in 9.91.

This was Bolt’s slowest championship winning time, a far cry when he raced away from the field to set an Olympic record of 9.63 sec in London four years ago. It is part of a gradual slowing down and he winds towards retirement next year. At the world championships in Moscow in 2013 he had run 9.77, in Beijing last year 9.79. Simultaneously he appears increasingly mortal yet still far beyond the reach of his contemporaries.

“I’m really happy but I expected to go faster,” Bolt admitted. “With the turnaround time between the semi-final and final we normally have two hours, but we had one hour 20 minutes, it was challenging. But I’m just happy that I won and that’s the key thing.”

His surprise was understandable, for this appeared the perfect night for the fast men to run their fastest times. The heat of the day had lingered and fermented with the expectation of the crowd. The lightest of winds was on the athletes’ backs. And then there was the new electric blue Mondo track, whose reputation as the fastest of all time, appeared confirmed when the South African Wayde van Niekerk shattered Michael Johnson’s two-decade old 400m record earlier in the night.

Then again, this latest triumph came barely a month after Bolt had pulled out of the Jamaican trials with a grade one hamstring tear. Those close to him had insisted it was a minor niggle – and that a trans-Atlantic trip to the controversial German doctor, Hans-Wilheim Müller-Wohlfahrt, whose potions include injections of calves’ blood and honey, had put him right. But two weeks of missed training – coupled with the short break between his semi-final, where he had eased down in running 9.86 sec, and the final – stopped him hitting the very highest notes.

Before the start the athletes were introduced one by one, to a rasping techno beat and mostly rapturous cheers. This was the biggest moment in most of their careers. Understandably most looked pensive. Not Bolt. Sometimes you almost believe he could look relaxed in front of a firing squad. No doubt he would bet on himself to outrun their bullets. Gatlin, predictably, was booed – his reputation for failed drugs tests having proceeded him. Afterwards even Bolt admitted he found that “shocking”.

But the crowd’s reaction didn’t seem to affect Gatlin. And for the briefest moment after the gun sounded, it appeared that the American might just have the run on the field. Even at 34 the American’s start remains a work of technical beauty: his body synchronised in perfect time to the starter’s pistol. He was out of his blocks quickest and headed the field by at least a metre at halfway. Bolt, by contrast, did not so much explode from blocks as rise stiffly from them: like a man with a slipped disc getting upright after a sleeping on an overly hard mattress.

But once he got into his stride it was over. Gatlin has not looked quite the same this year, age and a troublesome ankle injury having blunted his finishing speed. From 60 to 70m Bolt caught up with him and then rapidly slit his ambitions. As Bolt crossed the line he was slowing down, hand across his chest in salute.

Even now, despite all track and field’s deep-scented musk of scandal and suspicions, the men’s Olympic 100m final can still stop the world – while being the fastest man on the planet carries bragging rights. And once again, Bolt can rightfully holler the loudest of all.