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Rio de Janeiro • Usain Bolt turned the corner and the race could have ended, right then and there.
The Jamaican sprinter made Thursday night's 200 meters last longer than usual, according to the clock that timed him in 19.78 seconds. Even so, the distance between him and the trailing pack of runners defied the reality that Bolt is getting any older or slower as he claimed another victory.
And the triple-triple is in play Friday in what's likely his last Olympics. In the 4x100 relay, Bolt will race for his third gold medal in these Games and try to extend his series of sprinting sweeps from Beijing to London to Rio.
His winning time was nowhere near his world record of 19.19 or his Olympic record of 19.30 after a hamstring injury limited his training, yet his degree of dominance remained intact.
"I ran hard around the turn," Bolt said. "On the straight, my body didn't respond. I'm getting old."
He'll turn 30 on Sunday, the day of the Closing Ceremony. If he's aging, though, the advantage of youth obviously was not enough for the other runners to keep up with him.
Canada's Andre De Grasse, an NCAA champion for USC in 2015, had mildly threatened Bolt in the semifinals, inspiring some belief that a competitive race was in store Thursday. That theory was destroyed before the runners hit the straightaway. De Grasse, who took the silver medal in 20.02, wondered if he expended too much energy in the semifinals. "I tried to go," he said, "but there was nothing there."
France's Christophe Lemaitre earned the bronze in 20.12, edging Great Britain's Adam Gemili in what would have been a competitive, entertaining race without Bolt in the field.
"That's probably the worst way to lose a medal," Gemili said. "To finish fourth, and it went down to thousandths of a second. … It's going to take me a little time to get over that."
Bolt's Olympic career will be remembered forever. After winning the 200 meters in 2012, Bolt pronounced himself "a living legend." That status is difficult to improve upon, but Bolt may have done it in the misty rain of the Olympic Stadium.
"I don't need to prove anything else," he said afterward. "What else can I do to prove to the world I am the greatest?"
His frame of reference goes beyond track. As he's done in the past, he invoked the names of Muhammad Ali and Pele — the difference this time being that he's in Brazil, where Pele is worshiped in a soccer-driven country.
So maybe this was not the best place for him to describe himself in that context, but he belongs in the discussion. And in track and field, he's in his own class. "It's been an honor to compete in the era of Usain Bolt," said decathlon champion Ashton Eaton.
Twitter: @tribkurt