Usain Bolt on Sunday became the first athlete to win three Olympic 100m titles by defeating American Justin Gatlin to the gold medal at Rio 2016.
The 29-year-old Bolt ran 9.81 seconds in his final Olympics to replicate his successes at Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
Canada’s Andre de Grasse took bronze in a personal best of 9.91, ahead of Bolt’s Jamaican team-mate Yohan Blake.
Bolt remains on target to leave Rio with a third successive Olympic treble after winning the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay titles in 2008 and 2012.
The world record holder had said in February he would retire from athletics after the 2017 World Championships.
Bolt was slower out of the blocks than 34-year-old Gatlin, who was aiming to regain the title he won at Athens 2004.
But he surged through from 60 metres to pass Gatlin and comfortably win his seventh Olympic gold.
Bolt received a hero’s reception as he walked out into Rio’s Olympic Stadium before the race, and the crowd chanted his name after his victory.
The Jamaican had won at Beijing 2008 with a time of 9.69 to set a world record.
He went on to set another record with 9.58 at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.
At the 2012 Games in London, Bolt won with 9.63 for an Olympic record, while he won the 2013 World Championships in Moscow with 9.77.
He returned a time of 9.79 at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing
The events of Sunday night in Rio now shows Gatlin is a derisive figure in the sport, having twice been banned for doping offences.
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