Usain Bolt fails to defend title, loses 100 m final for first time at Olympics or World Championships stage

Reuters

New Delhi: Usain Bolt. The name echoed through the Olympic stadium in London on Sunday, when he stepped in for his final 100m race of his career. The race finished and 55,900 fans present there were left stunned when they witnessed the 'fastest man on planet earth' being smashed in his own arena. Usain Bolt was beaten in a 100m final at Olympics or a World Championships stage for the very first time.

"I’m ready," he said. "If I show up at the championships you know I’m fully confident and ready to go" – he said, a day before the IAAF World Championships 2017 kicked off in London. And yes was there. He eased through the heats and the through the semifinals, despite taking off to a slower start. That is his style. People have seen it several times. It is the last couple of metres that he thunders off, ergo justifying BOLT. ( READ: Bolt from the blue – The journey from Jamaica to his Olympic three-peat )

He bust into international fame back in 2008, breaking Asafa Powell's 100m Olympic record to clock 9.69 seconds. It was all in a blink, all before one could exhale his breathe as the stadium saw the 6ft 5" athlete ink his name in the history books of athletics. He then clinched an Olympic double with his 200m gold, something that was last achieved by America's Carl Lewis back in 1984. Not only so, he even left Michael Johnson stunned when he broke his 12-year-long 200m record which was in fact termed the 'unbreakable'. Finally, he left Beijing with three golds, the 4x100m relay being the last.

WATCH: Justin Gatlin pulls off a stunner as Usain Bolt finishes with bronze in final 100m race of career

He came back in the 2009 Berlin World Championships. His debut. And lightning struck again. The then 22-year-old athlete didn't just claim a treble, he smashed his own records. He bettered his 100m timing to 9.58 seconds and 200m to 19.19. Johnson might have thought Bolt's record-breaking run back in 2008 to be once in a blue moon, but 19.19? Who would have thought of breaking the unbreakable twice? 

Since then, the Olympics and the World Championships became his arena. Daegu, Moscow Beijing, wherever the venue was, Bolt knew that gold was his, and so did all the spectators present at the stadium and those glued on their television sets. Beijing was probably the best. Tyson Gay was there, Gatlin too along with young de Grasse. And Bolt once again won the race, but just by a heartbeat. 9.79 seconds was his timing, while Gatlin finished second with 9.80 seconds on the clock.

He even claimed his 'Olympic double double' at London, back in 2012. But his greatest test came when he reached Rio de Janeiro. He was 30 then. Age might have caught up, he may not remain the same, Bolt may not be the one this time – all revolved within the sports fraternity. Above all, Justin Gatlin was back, his old rival. And there was much of an exchange of words. Bolt was running his final Olympic race. He defied all odds and answered back his critics in style with a gold again. He clinched three golds at Rio to become the first man to claim an Olympic three-peat.

But his rather sluggish start seemed to have caught him up as he failed to tune up his speed in the last 40 metres of the track, thereby going down for the very first time at the World Championships. He finished third clocking 9.95 seconds, well behind his old nemesis Gatlin. The American finally avenged his thirst with 9.92 seconds, thus defeating the fastest man on earth.

Usain Bolt takes bronze in his final 100m race, the only time he was beaten in a 100m final at Olympics/Worlds. pic.twitter.com/C8wsOdfQVE — ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 5, 2017

“I’m just sorry I couldn’t end it on a winning note,” said Bolt, whose record of 9.58 is till intact. Well, he does have one more to go, the 200 metre race. The crowd at the Olympic stadium overcame their shock and once again the walls of the stadium screamed out his name – Bolt.