London: The immortalised Usain Bolt left the scene a mortal after all. When the world was about to exhaust its stock of superlatives of all manner to adorn the Jamaican sprint king, athletics’ greatest pantomime villain, Justin Gatlin, came to its rescue by gatecrashing Bolt’s farewell competitive dash in 100m.
As he got beaten, the facial expression told everything and he was seen gesturing to the crowd that he could not win this time. Once the timings flashed at the giant scoreboard, he regained his composure and clapped towards the crowd. He hugged Gatlin, Coleman, and then headed for a lap of honour to thank the crowd.
“This place is wonderful and I appreciate this crowd so much. It is just one of those things. Thank you to London for all your love and appreciation,” Bolt said.
“It (the atmosphere) was wonderful. I knew they would come out. I’m just disappointed I couldn’t do better for them but that’s how it goes sometimes. The support has been outstanding throughout the years.”
Talking about the poor start, Bolt said, “My start is killing me. Normally it gets better during the rounds but it didn’t come together. And that is what killed me. I felt it was there.
“It was rough. A little bit stressed. But I came out like at any other championships and I did my best. Thanks for the support. I could never expect this from any other crowd. They are what pushed me to do my best.”
Albeit a bit late, it was a sort of a proof that Bolt, who have produced superhuman feats that the world had come to take for granted, is, human after all, having once prompting scientists to claim, after studies, that he ran faster than a speeding bullet train.
