From left, Ashton Eaton of the United States, the United States women's soccer team and Usain Bolt.
LONDON — The world’s fastest man and the world’s greatest half-miler ran past the finish line and into the history books. Wembley, the iconic stadium, bulged with 80,203 fans for women’s soccer as the United States found redemption against Japan. Ireland won its first gold medal in 16 years as women’s boxing crowned its inaugural Olympic champions. And a friendly debate ensued about exactly who was the world’s greatest athlete.
Every day at the London Games has offered riveting moments, but perhaps no single day was more crowded with drama and record achievement than Thursday.
With just three more days of competition remaining, the Summer Games might have reached their peak — in the form of Usain Bolt of Jamaica holding his finger to his lips to silence anyone who had doubted his ability to become the first sprinter to win the 100 and 200 meters in consecutive Olympics. He had just crossed the finish line to win the 200 meters in 19.32 seconds.
Appearing relaxed and confident, Bolt chatted with volunteers and gave a royal wave before the race, then did five push-ups afterward, suggesting that he had so much speed and endurance in his 6-foot-5 frame that he may never be caught.
“It’s what I came here to do,” Bolt said, possessing the familiar boldness of being the world’s best sprinter. “I’m now a legend. I’m also the greatest athlete to live. I’ve got nothing left to prove. I’ve showed the world I’m the best.”
Ashton Eaton of the United States later won the decathlon, which comes with the mythic title of world’s greatest athlete. Asked whether Eaton or Bolt deserved that designation, Trey Hardee of the United States, who finished second to Eaton, said, “Ashton is the best athlete to ever walk the planet, hands down.”
Hardee added, “Just because you’re fast doesn’t make you an athlete.”
Eaton, the world-record holder, demurred. “There’s no fight,” he said. “Usain is clearly awesome. He’s an icon in his own right. Titles are for books.”
Bolt later graciously reconsidered in Eaton’s favor, saying, “I’m a great athlete, but to do 10 events, especially the 1,500” — the metric mile — “I’ve got to give it to him.”
In truth, the greatest performance before 80,000 at Olympic Stadium on a cool, windless evening came from David Rudisha of Kenya. He set the first world record in this track competition with elegant and ravenous strides that carried him around two laps to win the 800 meters in 1 minute 40.91 seconds.
It was a particularly good day for Ireland. Katie Taylor won the country’s first gold medal since 1996 in taking first place in the lightweight division of women’s boxing. And an Irish priest, Brother Colm O’Connell, planned to watch on television in Iten, Kenya, as the runner he coaches, Rudisha, broke his own world record in an epic 800-meter race in which seven of the eight competitors ran their lifetime bests.
“Rudisha’s run will go down in history as one of the greatest Olympic victories,” said Sebastian Coe, a two-time Olympic champion at 1,500 meters and the chief organizer of the Games.
At Wembley Stadium, the United States women’s soccer team won its fourth Olympic title with a team that has captured the public imagination with its ceaseless determination. Two goals by midfielder Carli Lloyd and the goalkeeping of Hope Solo gave the Americans an emancipating 2-1 win over Japan. The victory came a year after a shattering defeat to Japan in penalty kicks at the final of the Women’s World Cup.
Throughout the warm, beautiful day in London, thousands watched the day’s competition on big-screen television at the Olympic park. They are showing up in droves at the park and in the arenas and stadiums; the smooth-running Games appear to have enchanted the public after seven years of planning and two weeks of sports.
Perhaps nothing they saw Thursday surpassed the grit or inspiration of Manteo Mitchell of the United States, who broke his left fibula but kept running in a preliminary round of the 4x400-meter relay.
Mitchell led off the race for the Americans, but after 200 meters, he said, he felt — and even heard — the small bone in his lower left leg break.
“I wanted to just lie down,” Mitchell, 25, who had slipped on a stairway in the Olympic Village earlier this week, said in a statement issued by USA Track & Field. “It felt like somebody literally just snapped my leg in half.”
If he had stopped, the United States would have been ineligible for Friday’s final in an event it has dominated. So Mitchell persevered. He and his three teammates tied for the fastest time of the day in 2 minutes 58.87 seconds.
“I didn’t want to let those three guys down, or the team down, so I just ran on it,” Mitchell said. “It hurt so bad.”
Having campaigned for the inclusion of women’s boxing in the Games, Taylor sustained Ireland’s rich pugilistic tradition by winning Olympic gold. She hugged her coach and father, Peter Taylor, and charged around the ring carrying an Irish flag.
Not since 1996 had Ireland won a gold medal. Michelle Smith won three in swimming at those Games, but competed under widespread public suspicion of doping. Two years later, she was barred from competition for tampering with a urine sample by spiking it with alcohol.
But that was long forgotten on Thursday as Taylor, a four-time world champion, finally realized her Olympic dream. She was celebrated for her “pioneering spirit and boxing brilliance” in a statement by Enda Kenny, Ireland’s prime minister, who added, “She has won the hearts and minds of the Irish people who admire her greatly and love her to bits.”
A large crowd had gathered to watch on big-screen televisions in Taylor’s hometown, Bray, south of Dublin. After the fight, many people wandered the streets celebrating. Emmet Murphy, 17, walked along the promenade beside the Irish Sea, shouting the name Katie again and again.
“I was so worried,” Murphy said of the close fight. “I was worried for Katie, I was worried for myself; I was worried for all of Ireland. The only one calm was Katie.”
Two South African runners who have exposed inequities in how sports officials sometimes deal with the full panoply of elite athletes appeared on the track Thursday. Oscar Pistorius, the first double-amputee runner in the Games, did not get to carry to carry the baton in the 4x400 relay after one of his teammates collided with a Kenyan runner. South Africa appealed, claiming the collision had unfairly impeded its chances, and Pistorius’s relay team was reinstated for Friday’s final.
Caster Semenya had to undergo sex-verification tests in 2009 after she won the women’s world championship at 800 mts. But she won the right to compete again, and on Thursday, Semenya ran the fastest time in the semifinals (1:57.67), a season best that made her a gold medal favorite on Saturday.
“I think the time I ran makes me very confident,” Semenya said.
No one, though, seemed as assured as Bolt. Yes, he was in the same rarefied category of greatness as Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali, Bolt said, but he would rather others say it than himself.
“I just know I’m a legend,” he said.
And then: “Bask in my glory.”
Edited By Cen Fox Post Team
