Thunderstruck: Injury ends Bolt’s brilliant career
LONDON — Usain Bolt ended his stellar career Saturday in excruciating pain.
The Jamaican great crumpled to the track with a left-leg injury as he was chasing a final gold medal for the Jamaican 4x100-meter relay team at the world championships.
Having to make up lots of ground on the anchor leg, Bolt suddenly screamed and stumbled as he came down with his golden farewell shattered by the first injury he has experienced at a major competition.
That wasn’t the only surprise. Britain beat the United States in a tight finish.
The 60,000-capacity stadium was primed for one last Bolt show, but the injury made it clear why Bolt is ready to retire: His body can no longer hold up.
“He is still the best in the world,” said Justin Gatlin, Bolt’s U.S. rival who ended up with 100-meter gold and relay silver.
As Bolt fell, the crowd went wild because the home team won in 37.47 seconds, 0.05 seconds ahead of the Americans.
“It’s a cramp in his left hamstring, but a lot of the pain is from disappointment from losing the race,” Jamaican team doctor Kevin Jones said.
It was another amazing upset in an event with so many.
Before Bolt came onto the track, he was consoling Mo Farah, his long-distance equivalent who had just lost his first major race since 2011 when he failed to win the 5,000 meters.
Farah also was bidding farewell to the track, coming up short of his fifth straight 5,00010,000 double at major championships in a sprint against Muktar Edris of Ethiopia.
“I gave it all,” Farah said. “I didn’t have a single bit left.”
Instead, Tori Bowie was the unlikely first double gold medalist at the event, anchoring the U.S. team to the 4x100-meter women’s relay title ahead of Britain and Jamaica.
At the same time, Allyson Felix, running the second leg on the winning team, earned a record 15th medal at the world championships in a career dating to 2005.
If Bolt and Farah were about farewells, the decathlon was about renewal in the wake of the retirement of two-time Olympic and world champion Ashton Eaton. Kevin Mayer is the “world’s greatest athlete.”
The first Frenchman to win the title, Mayer won with 8,768 points. Rico Freimuth took silver with 8,564 points, while German teammate Kai Kazmirek was third with 8,488.
There was at least one veteran who did produce as Australia’s Sally Pearson got another gold medal at the Olympic Stadium in London after missing much of the past two seasons because of injury.
Five years after winning the 100-meter hurdles at the London Games, Pearson won the world title in 12.59 seconds. Raf Casert is an Associated Press writer.