Sometimes, our favorite sporting heroes end their careers with fitting triumphs that reminds us all how great they were and are. Derek Jeter slaps a walk-off in his final home game, Kobe Bryant drops 60 in his last contest, Peyton Manning retires as a Super Bowl champion, etc.
And sometimes it doesn’t quite work like that.
Usain Bolt ran his final solo race Saturday at the IAAF World Track and Field Championships in London, and in a not-so-fitting coda to his incredible career, he got a slow start out of the gate, failed to make up the distance and wound up with a bronze medal as American Justin Gatlin grabbed gold. It was the first time Bolt was beaten in a solo race at the Olympics or at Worlds since 2007 (aside from when he was disqualified for a false start in 2011).
https://twitter.com/YomiNigeria/status/893941245579579392
Of course, this loss does nothing to tarnish Bolt’s legendary career or his status as the greatest sprinter of all-time. He owns eight Olympic golds and 13 medals at the World Championships, with a chance to add one more next week in the 4×100-meter relay.
Even Gatlin had to bow down after Saturday’s race.
Photo of the night… Justin Gatlin & Usain Bolt #IAAFWorldChampionships pic.twitter.com/8hVgiNrENB
— George Orfanakis (@G_Orfan) August 5, 2017
When we think back one day on Bolt’s incredible sprinting career, we obviously won’t remember Saturday’s loss to Gatlin. We’ll remember the way he made world-class sprinting look easy; the way he over-powered opponents with long, easy strides; his mind-bending time of 9.58 in the 100 meters at the 2009 Worlds; and, most of all, his record-breaking performance at the Beijing Olympics, in which he won so easily that he had time to gloat over the final 10 meters.
We’ll all miss Usain Bolt, even if Justin Gatlin surely won’t.
