LONDON, Aug 13 2017 – The glorious finale anticipated for Usain Bolt never materialised as the legendary sprinter pulled up injured in the final of the sprint relay, in his second major disappointment of the IAAF World Championships here Saturday.
Bolt, who calls time on his illustrious career at the end of the showpiece, was chasing down the United States and Great Britain on the final leg when he sustained what appeared to be a hamstring injury after 20 metres and failed to continue.
He had received the baton in third place and seem poised to create a close finish when he suddenly jumped in the air clutching his left hamstring.
Bolt tried to continue but eventually fell to the track in frustration, bringing an unflattering end to an otherwise fabulous career.
Bolt’s injury was blamed on the length of time the athletes were kept in the call room.
“Its tragic,” said Bolt’s relay teammate Yohan Blake who ran the third leg.
“The race was 10 minutes late, inside was really cold and Usain said to me ‘Yohan I don’t like this.’”
He added: “It was just crazy and to see a true legend of the sport to go down like that, and we as Jamaicans and the world don’t like to see that. We wanted him to go out in style and we went out there to give it our all and it came to that.”
Men’s sprint hurdles champion, Omar McLeod who led off the relay, said the end was not the one they had envisioned for the retiring Bolt.
“It’s heart wrenching. I gave it my all and I really wanted, especially Usain to leave golden,” he said.
“We wanted to win, but even if it was a medal. It’s really heart wrenching … I don’t know what to say honestly. I couldn’t believe, I was shock, utter disbelief.”
McLeod also slammed the protracted wait time.
“[It’s] ridiculous man … we were there about like 45 minutes. I think they had about three medals ceremonies before we went out so we were really trying our hardest to stay warm and keep upbeat, but it was ridiculous.”
Julian Forte, who ran the second leg, was also stunned by Bolt’s injury.
“I felt like it happened to me. I was on the corner at the time when it happened, I didn’t want to believe it … it’s devastating,” he lamented.
“I really wanted to be a part of the team that sent Usain off in style. Unfortunately it happened and it’s just apart of the sport.”
American Justin Gatlin, the recently crowned 100m champion, also weighed in.
“I am sorry he got this injury. He is still the best in the world.
“I don’t want to say this but I understand we need to be ready early but I think we took our clothes off a little too early.
“It’s a little chilly in here so I think that’s where the cramp came from. That’s what he suffered with. He was running out there cold.”
He added: “I think they really need to look into that and do something about it.”
Great Britain won the event in a world-leading 37.47, just ahead of the USA who clockrd 37.52 for silver and Japan who were third in 38.04.
In the women’s final, meanwhile, Jamaica with Jura Levy, Natasha Morrison, Simone Facey and Sashalee Forbes, took bronze in a season best 42.19.
USA topped the field in a world-leading 41.82 ahead of Great Britain with 42.12.
The disappointment continued for the Caribbean when Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott could only muster seventh with a throw of 84.48m in the men’s javelin, won by Johannes Vetter of Germany with 89.89m.
Grenadian Kurt Felix also finished seventh in the men’s decathlon with 8,227 points while his teammate Lindon Victor failed to complete his outing. Frenchman Kevin Mayer took gold with with a world leading 8,768 points.
Ealier in the day, Jamaica women’s team advanced to the 4x400m final while the men’s team failed in their bid.
The team of Anastasia Le-Roy, Anneisha Mclaughlin-Whilby, Chrisann Gordon and Stephenie Ann McPherson, running in that order, clocked a season-best three minutes, 23.64 seconds to finish ahead of Nigeria in 3:25.40 in heat two.
McLaughlin-Whilby said the run was “pretty comfortable”
“We just wanted to do enough to qualify safely, so we are happy to have done that,” she said.
Gordon added: “We led it the whole way so we are a strong challenger for the gold medal. We can go even harder. We work well together and never give up.”
The men’s 4x400m team, however, crashed out after crossing the line in 3:01.98, behind heat one winners Spain in 3:01.72
Peter Matthews, Steven Gayle, Jamari Rose and Rusheen McDonald comprised the team.
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