By Nick Powell
Usain Bolt made it 8 gold medals in 8 Olympic events in 8 years as he clinched the 200m title to remain on course for the "triple triple" and solidify his position as the greatest athlete of all time, in what was his last ever 200m race at a major championships.
In what turned out to be a slow race, Bolt eased clear of the field and despite running what looked to be his hardest, he was a long way short of the world record and was visibly frustrated as he crossed the line on a rainy night in Rio.
Adam Gemili of Great Britain finished an agonising 4th, given the same time as Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre who took home the bronze for France. It was Britain's 10th fourth place of the games.
Andre De Grasse took his expected silver, but lived to regret running so fast in the semi-final, as he lacked the energy to make a challenge to a fading Bolt.
USA's LaShawn Merritt, predicted to take the bronze finished a disappointing sixth.
The Expectation
Bolt had huge expectation to get the gold before the race, De Grasse was expected to make it difficult for him but the Jamaican was confident. In the hours before the race, he was in the warm-up area dancing like he didn't have a care in the World. Bolt even threw in a few dabs, much to the excitement of the crowd. Many, including Bolt, felt that he had a chance of a World Record, and perhaps even a sub 19 seconds run.
Weather conditions and fatigue meant Bolt just couldn't produce the speed down the back straight that he needed to challenge the record, but the Jamaican was not threatened for Gold, with Andre De Grasse also failing to produce an impressive time.
But Bolt lived up to the expectation to come home for the gold, he was "not happy" with the time but "excited" with his 8th gold. It now means that if he and his team can win a seventh consecutive 4x100m relay gold medal, then he joins Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi as the most successful athletes of all time in terms of gold medals.
Devastated Gemili misses out on Bronze
Team GB have been quite brilliant in picking up Gold and Silver medals, but in tight battles for bronze, they have had little luck.
That was true yet again in this race as Adam Gemili missed out on his first Olympic medal by the tiniest of margins. The GB athletics captain had previously finished 5th at the Moscow 2013 World Championships, but he missed out by a fair bit there, this was painfully close.
Gemili was agonisingly close to a famous bronze
Just 3 thousandths of a second seperated him and Lemaitre. The Frenchman was ecstatic as he claimed his first individual Olympic medal.
Gemili felt he "lost his form" in an interview and was "absolutely heartbroken", he had come so painfully close to a win that would have propelled his career into life. Another agonising fourth for GB, if those 4ths had been converted into thirds we would have already exceeded our 2012 medal total
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