kee Bucks, with whom he will assume the backup role

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Beneath Olympic Stadium, after the roars of the crowd subsided, three of the fastest men on earth took their turns with the media. One by one, they spoke from the other side of a waist-high metal barrier, close enough to touch, and the inevitability of Usain Bolt hit home.First came the bronze-medal winner in the 200-meter dash, Christophe Lemaitre of France. At 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds, Lemaitre, 26, has bulging calves and thighs but a shallow chest and narrow biceps. Then came silver medalist Andre De Grasse of Canada, at 5-foot-9, 154 pounds and just 21 years old, with the upper body of a teenager.Enter Bolt.Massive is a favorite slang term in Bolts native Jamaica. It describes both his presence -- pantomiming a karate kick to the cameras, filling the room with his booming baritone -- and his person. Watching him stand there -- at 6-foot-5 and 207 pounds, with wide shoulders, carved muscles, narrow waist and tapered legs -- the idea of any other athlete winning the 200-meter gold medal on Thursday night seemed preposterous.Bolt, who turns 30 on Sunday, is for all time a thoroughbred among colts, Formula 1 alongside go-karts. Hes too powerful to lose, too confident and, in his final Olympics, too motivated. His victory in the 200 gave him eight Olympic golds. He has won three straight in each of the 100 and 200. The final step for the once-unimaginable triple-triple is gold in the 4x100-meter relay on Friday night.Bolt has spoken so many times about wanting to stand among the giants of all sports -- Muhammad Ali, Pele, Michael Jordan -- not just track. He has been working toward cementing his legend in Rio since the 2012 London Games. The relay is not entirely within his control, so Bolts desired status is finally secure. On Thursday, however, it had yet to sink in.When Im at home, relaxing by myself, I might get a little emotional, he said. Right now, Im just happy I got it done.It didnt get done with size alone. Despite his admitted dislike of training, Bolts pursuit of athletic immortality pushed him to fully prepare for Rio. In March, I watched him blast through a set of 10 consecutive 200s on his Jamaica practice track, then collapse in exhaustion. His performances here, in his final Olympics, made it clear Bolt was primed for victory -- unlike in last years world championships, which he won anyway.A prepared Bolt is unbeatable. All due respect to Lemaitre and De Grasse, but Bolt had no human competition in the 200. His only opponent was the clock. He badly wanted to lower his own world record of 19.19, set in 2009. In the months before Rio, he had even spoken of running under 19 seconds.Bolt started well at the gun, quickly made up the stagger and roared out of the turn well in front. The effort on his face showed there would be no grinning, sideways glances in this race, no finger wags, no memes. He ran through the finish, losing his form a bit in the final meters, and was clocked in 19.78 seconds -- not even among his 10 fastest times.There was a misty rain during the race, but Bolt said the way De Grasse pushed him in the semifinal was more of a factor.I was disappointed, he confessed. Im always happy to win, but I was disappointed. I wanted to run faster. Even though I didnt break the world record, I wanted to run a little bit faster. But thanks to De Grasse in the semifinal, my legs were a little bit tired. Just one of those things. Im getting older, I dont recover like I usually do.The key thing is that I won. Thats what I came here for.He recovers enough to be dominant. The youngster De Grasse pushed Bolt until the finish line in the semifinal and still finished two meters behind Bolt in the final, in 20.02.In the years to come, none of the millions around the world who watched Thursdays race will complain about Bolts time. They will remember a huge man powering around the curve, down the homestretch and into history as the greatest sprinter ever.Running Shoes Canada Online .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Discount Running Shoes Canada . -- Charline Labonte couldnt have asked for a better homecoming. http://www.discountrunningshoescanada.com/ . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. Clearance Running Shoes Canada . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. Running Shoes Online Canada . Newcastle dominated in the early stages but City weathered the storm and then raised its game in extra time. Negredo broke the deadlock from close range after a simple move in the 99th minute before Dzeko took the ball round goalkeeper Tim Krul to seal the victory in the 105th.The Olympics are in the books and unfortunately for the Boomers it was a dose of history repeating; they walked away empty handed once again yet this one seems to hurt more.The Boomers arrived at Rio 2016 ranked No. 11 in the FIBA standings, with high levels of internal belief, but the expectations held outside the playing group were all around the same train of thought: Tough opponent, not expected to medal.That train of thought proved accurate in the end, but not before upset victories against France and Serbia, a strong effort that pushed the United States to their limits, and a resounding victory against world No. 3 Lithuania in the quarterfinals; the world was there for the taking, but thats when the Boomers fell apart and Serbia took control of their semifinal to knock Australia out of gold medal contention.The Boomers produced easily their worst effort of the tournament against Serbia, but they showed admirable fortitude and resilience to recover and take it right up to the world No. 2-ranked Spaniards; if not for a dubious call, the would have claimed the bronze medal and a piece of Australian basketball history.So what does the future hold for the Boomers?There certainly have big holes to fill with Andrew Bogut and David Andersen having surely contested their last Olympics campaign. Bogut is the defensive stalwart of this side, Andersen the spark off the bench., but consider the names the Boomers have to welcome to the team list: Ben Simmons, Thon Maker and Dante Exum; you couldnt ask for a better passing of the torch if you tried.Simmons will comfortably slot into the starting five alongside Aron Baynes in the frontcourt, while Maker can become the focal point of the second unit with Exum.If were to look into our crystal ball and jump ahead to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, we could see a Boomers side with the following depth:Patty Mills, in Tokyo, will be attending his fourth Olympics with the Boomers, having been leading scorer in all three previous Games.dddddddddddd. He never fails to show up on the big stage, and that has led many pundits, including assistant coach Luc Longley, to say that Mills deserves his shot as a starting point guard in the NBA - experience that can only further help the Boomers cause.Matthew Dellavedova signed recently with Milwaukee Bucks, with whom he will assume the backup role behind Michael Carter-Williams; however, he may not be playing backup for long given his terrific Rio campaign and his championship experience.Ryan Broekhoff showed glimpses of his potential in Rio, and youd expect that he can shine more brightly with another four years of experience under his belt.Simmons, meanwhile, will replace Bogut as the face of Australian basketball for years to come; hell contend for NBA Rookie of the Year honours in the coming season, and is the man to lead Philadelphia out of the dark times.Maker joins Dellavedova in Milwaukee as an unknown prodigy, a gifted athlete with exceptional length who was an outside-the-box pick when taken at No. 10 in the 2016 NBA Draft. His raw tools and x-factor abilities will come in handy in the NBA and on the international stage.And then, of course, Australia also has Exum to consider; he has played only one NBA season with Utah but the presence of George Hill as his new mentor can only do great things for his development.Throw it all together and the Boomers will no longer be classified as a team at the Olympics just there to make up the numbers.Theyll leave Rio with a sour taste in the mouth after smelling the essence of glory, but disappointment can be a powerful motivation for players who believed -- even when others didnt -- that they were a genuine medal chance.With the likely future playing list, they will have even deeper belief. ' ' '