The Sunday News
USAIN BOLT’s third sprint gold and Mo Farah’s unique “triple double” shared the spotlight with Ashton Eaton yesterday as the American thrilled the World Championships with a record-breaking decathlon win. This time Bolt shot down not only Justin Gatlin but the cavalry too, anchoring rampant Jamaica to a fourth successive 4×100 metres world relay title as the USA sprinters imploded in Beijing.
Meanwhile, Farah became the first man to win back-to-back world distance doubles and Eaton broke his own decathlon world record on a pulsating penultimate evening at the Bird’s Nest stadium.
Any faint hopes the Americans had of ambushing Bolt’s latest treble attempt went up in smoke when Tyson Gay’s final handover to Mike Rodgers was deemed illegal and they were dramatically disqualified to give hosts China a sensational silver.
But even the anticipation of more Bolt fireworks took a back seat as iron man Eaton retained his world title in style after wringing every last drop of energy from his shattered body.
“It’s an awesome result,” said a jubilant Eaton. “How many more points can I get? I don’t know, but you can bet your a.. I’m going to try to get more!”
Not to be outdone, Jamaica’s women retained their world crown in the 4x100m, with Britain’s Farah winning the 5 000m to make it three distance doubles in a row, including the London Olympics.
Bolt put on a typically electric display at the Bird’s Nest, where he shot to fame at the 2008 Olympics, leaving Rodgers for dead on the last leg as Jamaica won in 37.36 seconds. — SuperSport
