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Rio 2016: Treble treble crowns great evening of Athletics

Britwatch Team
AthleticsNilesh Patel

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By Nilesh Patel

  • Usain Bolt wins his third gold in at Rio 2016 in 4×100 relay
  • Women’s 4×100 relay win Olympic bronze in British record
  • Team GB men’s 4×400 semi-final relay disqualification appeal fails
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Usain Bolt makes sporting history by winning his ninth gold, maintaining his 100% record in Olympic finals.

 

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Bolt ends his Olympic career by completing an unprecedented ‘treble treble’ and his ninth Olympic gold as Jamaica win the 4×100 relay.

At 29-years-old, Bolt had won the 100m and 200m in Rio and by winning the relay he is the only athlete to win all three sprint events at three Olympic Games.

With the help of – former 100m world record holder – Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmede, Jamaica ran the relay in 37.27s.

Japan won a surprise silver, while the USA’s disqualification resulted in Canada taking bronze and Britain finishing fifth.

The British team were left disappointed to not make the podium but with five nations running sub 38s, they were always going to come close to finishing in a medal position.

There was magnificent success from the women’s quartet of Asha Philip, Desiree Henry, Dina Asha-Smith and Daryll Neita who ran a national record of 41.77s. The four youngsters were confident of making the podium but were under heavy pressure from the American and Jamaican teams who finished in gold and silver positions.

The medal was Team GB’s first in the event since Moscow 1984 and marked an extraordinary change in fortune after failing to make the relay final in London 2012.

In the 4x400m relay, Team GB – spearheaded by Martyn Rooney, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Delano Williams and Nigel Levine – finished first in the semi-final in at time of 2:58.88.

However, soon after the race the British team had been disqualified with reasons unspecified. After an appeal made by the British team the IAAF’s report stated that they were penalised for taking the baton outside the exchange zone.

The disqualification means Brazil will progress to the final as the eight fastest qualifier.

In the women’s 5000m there was a shock as the favourite from Ethiopia – Almaz Ayana – slipped to third courtesy of the two Kenyan runners: Hellen Obiri and Vivian Cheruiyot. The only GB runner in the race – Eilish McColgan – finished a respectable thirteenth in the race with a time of 15:12.09.

The final event in the Olympic stadium was the women’s pole vault, which was another enthralling competition. British pole vaulter, Holly Bradshaw looked a contestant for a podium finish but just missed out by failing to clear the 4.70m mark. She finished fifth in the event, just 15cm of a podium finish.

The last day of the track and field programme begins with women’s high jump on Sunday 00:30am BST.