Peerless Bolt looks to seal legend status
BARRING catastrophe in the semifinals, Usain Bolt will face fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake in today’s 200m final where victory would see him attain legendary status in his own eyes.
The 25-year-old retained his 100m crown last Sunday and is now focused on defending his 200m title despite the threat of training partner Blake.
Kenyan David Rudisha looks set to dominate the 800m in the same manner that Bolt has the sprints and the 23-year-old world record holder can confirm that by taking the Olympic title.
Rudisha said after his easy semifinal win that his mind was not focused on anything but the title.
“I don’t mind about it (breaking the world record) but my target is winning the Olympic gold medal and if the record comes that will be another great achievement.”
The men’s triple jump final could well be a duel between two Americans, world champion Christian Taylor and Will Claye, who is looking to turn his bronze from the long jump into gold in this event.
Taylor, who is coached by Rana Rieder who coached Dwight Phillips to the 2004 Olympic title and four world crowns, posted the best mark in qualifying of 17.21m but said that counted for nothing.
“I laid down a marker but everyone will have been holding something back, so I’m not going to be naive and think this means the gold is mine,” said the 21-year-old.
Defending champion Barbora Spotakova will still be the woman to beat in the javelin as the 31-year-old world record holder showed in qualifying with the furthest throw of 66.19m.
Spotavkova, also the world champion in 2007, said that for the final she would be wearing earplugs because of the noise the crowd make – some of them from her dedicated fan club the ‘Baras’.