On This Date in Sports August 9, 2012: Lightning Bolt
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
Usain Bolt of Jamaica becomes the first sprinter to win the 100-meter and 200-meter in back-to-back Olympics. Bolt wins the 200-meter race in 19.32 seconds as part of a Jamaican podium sweep. Yohan Blake takes the silver in 19.44 seconds, while Warren Weir captures the Bronze Medal. Usain Bolt and Jamaica would add a Gold Medal in the 4x100 Relay. In 2016, Bolt would do it again, winning the 100-meter and 200-meter to secure his place as the greatest sprinter in Olympic history.
Usain Bolt was born on August 21, 1986, in Sherwood Content, a small town in Jamaica. While attending high school, coaches became enamored with Bolt's speed. In 2002, at the Junior World Championships, Usain Bolt thrilled the crowd in Kingston, winning the 200-meter race.
In previous Olympics, great Jamaican sprinters had been pouched, either running for Canada or Great Britain. This included Donovan Bailey, who won the 100-meter Gold Medal for Canada in 1996. Usain Bolt decided he would run for his home nation Jamaica when he qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Usain Bolt had already captured the World Record, and now on the World's biggest stage, he did it again, winning the 100-meters in 9.69 seconds. Bolt would also set a World Record in the 200-meters, running at 19.30 seconds.
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Usain Bolt was the eighth sprinter to double up the 100-meter and 200-meter at the Olympics and the first to do it in 24 years when Carl Lewis accomplished the double at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Bolt lost a chance at a third Gold Medal in Beijing when his team was disqualified in the relay.
In 2012 in London, there would be no denying Usuan Bolt from three Gold Medals as the undisputed fastest man in the world, as Usain Bolt topped the Olympic record when he won the 100-meters in a time of 9.63 seconds. Yohan Blake of Jamaica took the Silver Medal, while American Justin Gatlin took the Bronze Medal. Following the Jamaican podium sweep in the 200-meters, Usain Bolt and his teammates dominated the relay, setting a World Record of 36.84.
Usain Bolt would make history again at Rio Games in 2016, winning the double last time, as Jamaica won the relay again.