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Usain Bolt, Jamaica Win 4×100-Meter Relay Gold Medal
London Olympics with another gold medal and another world record.
Running the anchor leg in the men’s 4×100-meter relay, Bolt helped the Jamaican team win the gold medal in 36.84 seconds, a new world record. Just days after declaring himself “the greatest athlete to live,” the charismatic 25-year-old sprinter went back to work bolstering his argument.
Bolt received the baton from teammate Yohan Blake and then left behind Ryan Bailey of the United States to reach the finish line ahead of the field. The United States won the silver in 37.04 seconds, a new national record. Canada finished the race third but was disqualified, giving the bronze to Trinidad and Tobago.
Usain Bolt Wins Gold In 200 Meters Final
Bolt’s countryman and training partner, Yohan Blake, gave it his best shot. But, in the end, Bolt remains the guest of honor on the track at the London Olympics just as was in 2008 at the Beijing Games.
Running the 200 meters in a blistering 19.32 seconds, the 25-year-old Jamaican track star won his second consecutive gold medal in the event. Blake won the silver, crossing in 19.44 seconds, with the bronze going to Warren Weir, also of Jamaica, in a time of 19.84 seconds.
“It’s what I came here to do,” Bolt said after winning the 200 meters, via The New York Times. “I’m now a legend. I’m also the greatest athlete to live.”
Bolt is the first man to win two Olympic titles in the 200. He’s also the first man to twice sweep the 100 and the 200. And he’s been telling us all week that he was going to pull it off.
London 2012 last Sunday, the Jamaican insisted he also had to retain his 200m title to achieve such status.
And the 25-year-old did precisely that with another imperious performance, leading a Jamaican clean-sweep ahead of 100m silver medallist Yohan Blake and Warren Weir, both of whom are just 22.
Bolt’s winning time of 19.32 was outside his own world record of 19.19 which he felt might be a possibility, but the 80,000 crowd had already witnessed one such feat as Kenya’s David Rudisha stormed to 800m gold in 1:40.91, taking 0.10 off his own record.
Bolt had lost to Blake over 100 and 200m at the Jamaican trials – and later underwent treatment on a stiff back which was causing hamstring problems – but gained sweet revenge over both distances in London.
Asked about lowering the world record he set when winning the world title in Berlin in 2009, Bolt said: ‘I think it was possible…but I guess I wasn’t fit enough. I was fast but I wasn’t fit enough.
‘I came off the corner, I could feel the strain on my back a little bit so I was trying to keep my form, but I stopped running because I knew it wasn’t going to be a world record. When I came off the corner I could feel it.
‘It was hard. I really dedicated [myself] to my work, I know what London meant to me. I came here and I gave it my all and I’m proud of myself. I didn’t get a world record – I really wanted to do it in the 200m – but I’m happy.’
Sarah Attar, First Saudi Woman To Compete In Olympic Track 800m – Video
Sarah Attar finished last and more than a half-minute slower than her nearest competitor in the women’s 800 meters. Yet hundreds rose to give her a standing ovation as she crossed the finish line.
For the first woman from Saudi Arabia to compete in track and field at the Olympics, the principle was more important than the performance.
Covered in clothing from head to toe, except for her smiling face poking out from her hood, Attar’s debut came five days after a Saudi judo athlete became the ultraconservative country’s first female competitor at any Olympics.
U.S. Soccer Defeats Canada In Women’s Olympics Semi With Alex Morgan Goal In Extra Time
She was still shaking in the chilly night outside one of the most famous stadiums in world soccer. Maybe it was due to the cold, or maybe it was just the emotional overload, “wanting to laugh and cry at the same time,” as she put it. Alex Morgan had just scored one of the most famous goals in U.S. soccer history — a 123rd-minute game-winning header to beat Canada 4-3 and send the U.S. to the Olympic final — and if she was having a hard time coming to grips with the enormity of the occasion, well, there haven’t been many like it.
“I can’t remember ever feeling this way after scoring a goal,” Morgan said. “It’s just so exhilarating.”
At the age of 23, Morgan has scored 20 goals in 2012, becoming only the sixth U.S. player to do so in a single year. But for all her talents — including blazing speed and a ruthless right foot — Morgan has been a project for coach Pia Sundhage when it comes to heading the ball. “Heading is something that Pia has always said is one of my weakest points,” says Morgan, “which is probably a true statement.”
In the final minute of a game filled with a bit of everything — goals galore, unexpected comebacks and never-before-seen officiating calls — it seemed like the U.S. and Canada were on the way toward a penalty-kick shootout. U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo stood in her penalty box and got ready mentally for spot kicks. “In my head I had decided on a plan of attack,” she said. On the sideline, Sundhage met with her assistants and started putting together a list of penalty-takers.
During the break before extra-time, U.S. forward Abby Wambach had brought her teammates together and delivered a familiar speech: “It really does just take one moment, one chance, one moment of brilliance,” she told them.
There had been so many moments like that already on this remarkable night — and now there would be one more. With the seconds ticking, Wambach pushed the ball out to Heather O’Reilly on the right flank. “It was a little bit heavy of a pass, so I had to get there in a hurry,” said O’Reilly. “Abby’s one of the most prolific goal-scorers with her head in the world, so usually when you put things in the mixer good things happen. And this time there was Alex Morgan to get her head on it.”
Morgan had been a frustrated striker, going four games without scoring, but she put just enough on her header to direct it over Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod into the net. Bedlam. In the U.S. dogpile afterward, Wambach located Morgan and screamed into her ear: “I love you! You just sent us to the gold-medal match!”
Michael Phelps wins record 19th medal
Michael Phelps won his 19th Olympic medal, as we all knew he would, surpassing Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina as the most decorated Olympian of all-time.
But it was not in the way we might have expected. Already, there had been a fourth place finish and a second. Then, at the Aquatics Centre Tuesday, he came second again, in the 200-meter butterfly, before (at last) finishing first as anchor of the 4×200 freestyle relay.
Michael Phelps swimming the anchor leg, the United States won gold in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. France won silver with China taking bronze. This is the 19th medal of Phelps’ career, making him the most decorated Olympian of all time.
“I started smiling with about 20 meters to go,” Phelps said after the win, via Nicole Auerback of USA Today. “That’s the first time I’ve ever done that.”
Handed a sizable lead for the anchor of the 4×200, Phelps had the luxury of enjoying the trip. Coming off disappointing results in the 4×100-meter relay and the 200-meter freestyle, Ryan Lochte delivered a powerful performance in the first leg, handing Conor Dwyer a lead. Although the gap was closed on Dwyer, he built it back up before Ricky Berens hit the water. The lead continued to grow and Phelps never let the competitors get close.
Ryan Lochte Wins Gold At London Olympics Swimming 2012
Ryan Lochte strolled the deck of the Olympic Aquatics Centre wearing diamonds in his mouth and lime-green sneakers on the feet that powered him through the water faster than anyone else. Beaming, he chomped playfully on his gold medal while Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” blared throughout the massive arena.
Michael Phelps?
He was nowhere to be found.
Not during the race.
Not when it came time to hand out the medals.
On a stunner of an opening night at the pool in London, Phelps was routed by his American rival in the 400-meter individual medley, losing to Lochte by more than 4 seconds Saturday. That’s not all: The winningest Olympian ever didn’t win any medal at all, the first time that’s happened in a race of this magnitude since he was a 15-year-old kid competing in just one event at the Sydney Games, a dozen years ago.
The biggest thing now is to try to look forward. I have a bunch of other races, and hopefully we can finish a lot better than how we started.”
China had a big night, claiming a couple of gold medals.
Sixteen-year-old Ye Shiwen set a world record in the women’s 400 individual medley – only the third mark to fall since high-tech bodysuits were banned at the end of 2009. She won in 4:28.43, breaking the mark of 4:29.45 by Australia’s Stephanie Rice at the 2008 Beijing Games. American Elizabeth Beisel took silver and China’s Li Xuanxu grabbed the bronze.
Sun Yang flirted with a world record in the men’s 400 freestyle. He took gold in 3:40.14, just off the mark of 3:40.07 by Germany’s Paul Biedermann in a rubberized suit three years ago. When it was done, Sun propped himself on the lane rope, pumping his fist and splashing the water.
Olympic Swimming 2012 Michael Phelps, Park Tae-hwan, Paul Biedermann Among (Bad) Swim Surprises
400-meter individual medley on the opening day of Olympic swimming Saturday, squeaking into the final by seven-hundredths of a second.
“That one didn’t feel too good,” he said.
Phelps wasn’t the only surprise of the morning at the Aquatics Centre, where Queen Elizabeth appeared briefly.
Olympic champion Park Tae-hwan of South Korea won his 400 freestyle heat, but was disqualified for a false start. Paul Biedermann of Germany, the world record holder in the event, failed to make the final.
“That’s the Olympics,” said Canadian Ryan Cochrane, who barely made the 400 free final. “It’s always a surprise, every single heat. You just have to focus on your own race.”
Phelps, the two-time defending Olympic champion, won his 400 IM preliminary heat in 4 minutes, 13.33 seconds with a time that was well off his world record of 4:03.84 set four years ago in Beijing, when Phelps won a record eight gold medals.
London Olympics Games 2012 Live Updates
Opening Ceremony was out of the way, everyone was finally ready to focus on the Summer Games themselves. Although the full schedule of events actually kicked off earlier in the week with the women’s soccer tournament, many Olympics watchers really jumped in headfirst when Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and and a bevy of other swimmers hit the pool on the morning following Danny Boyle’s Britastic celebration.
With more than 14,000 athletes from more than 200 countries competing over more than two weeks in events ranging from beach volleyball and handball to swimming and gymnastics, there will be something for everyone — although not likely medals for all.
Follow our London Olympics live blog for updates on medal wins, broken records and tweet @HuffPostSports to join in on the conversation.
