Rio Olympics 2016: Usain Bolt wins 100m gold, Justin Gatlin second

Eyong Kevin — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 13:08:02 +0000

Bolt, 29, ran 9.81 seconds in his final Olympics to replicate his success at Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
Twice banned for doping offences, Gatlin was 0.08 seconds behind Bolt, with Canada’s Andre de Grasse in third.
“Somebody said I can become immortal,” said Bolt. “Two more medals to go and I can sign off. Immortal.”
De Grasse took bronze in a personal best of 9.91, ahead of Bolt’s Jamaican team-mate Yohan Blake.
There was no British interest in Sunday’s showpiece as CJ Ujah and James Dasaolu were eliminated in the semi-finals.
Bolt remains on target to leave Rio with a third successive Olympic treble, having won the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay titles in 2008 and 2012.
“It wasn’t perfect today, but I got it done and I’m pretty proud of what I’ve achieved,” he said. “Nobody else has done it or even attempted it.
“I expected to go faster, but I’m happy that I won. I did what I had to.”
Bolt was slower out of the blocks than 34-year-old Gatlin, who was aiming to regain the title he won at Athens 2004.
But the Jamaican surged through from 60 metres to pass Gatlin and comfortably win his seventh Olympic gold.
Bolt received a hero’s reception as he walked out into Rio’s Olympic Stadium before the race – and the crowd chanted his name after his victory, too.
“It wasn’t about the time, it was just about winning the gold and going out on top,” said Michael Johnson, four-time Olympic champion.
Bolt, who said in February he would retire from athletics after the 2017 World Championships, competes in qualifying for the men’s 200 on Tuesday, with the 4x100m relay beginning on Friday.
The world record holder at 100m and 200m showed an expectant Rio crowd he was in great shape by clocking a season’s best 9.86 in his semi-final.
The sport’s greatest showman then produced an even better run when it really mattered to send the Olympic Stadium into raptures.

“After the semi-final, I felt extremely good,” Bolt added.
“I wanted to run faster but with the turnaround time – we normally have two hours but we had one hour 20 minutes – it was challenging. This is what we train for. I told you guys I was going to do it. Stay tuned. Two more to go.”

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt became the first athlete to win three Olympic 100m titles by beating American Justin Gatlin to gold at Rio 2016.

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LIMBE FESTAC 2016: A pointer to the future

Eyong Kevin — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 08:21:05 +0000

So much has come to linger round my memory, about the just ended LIMBE FESTAC 2016, which equally reminds me about the Lagos Festival of arts and culture, which also bore the abbreviation of FESTAC. If my memories have not gone rustic, this was in 1977. At the time Nigeria was under military rule with General Olusegun Obasanjo, as the Head of state. For although Obasanjo actually presided over this memorable occasion, an event which many who took part, watched it, and saw the glamour in it, were, at the end of the festival, asking the question, when next and who will volunteer to host it, was not Obasanjo, actually the one who initiated this great event that, in earnest succeeded in assembling all African peoples in one place. Since then, never again has such a gathering shown the determination to identify themselves as one people, whom an accident of history succeeded so brutally to separate and dominate in the name of colonialism, with the sole mission to exploit.
It was actually General Gowon’s idea, which some analysts tried to defend as an option of calling fellow Africans to bear witness of his determination to the process of reintegrating his people of Nigeria after a bloody civil war virtually split the country. Whatever was the underlying objective of this event, it did give Nigeria a new image.
The other argument, suggesting why Nigeria under the military could afford to go into such a venture might also be that, Nigeria’s oil revenue was still better managed then than now and so the leaders felt it was an opportunity to show the world that there was an African country that is capable of defending the ruined pride of the African peoples whom the West has always brandished as a people without a credible human identity, just a specie.
Whichever way we take the two arguments, Nigeria certainly got the credits. She stunned the world and reshaped Africa’s image. However, the question kept coming up for a long time, eagerly wanting to know if the move by Nigerian leaders at the time was simply a show of wealth, nor whether it bore any message that was capable of firing the minds of other African countries to keep alive this original spirit, as being participatory in the advancement of a universal culture, capable of bringing the world more and more closer for its own good?
I happened to be in Lagos at the time, as a student in the Nigerian Institute of Journalism. Preparations for the hosting of the festival changed the face of Lagos. Satellite villages were constructed, in fact, everything that was necessary to keep Africa comfortable in Lagos, was put in place. The Cameroonian delegation comprising selected artists from most parts of the country were conspicuous. Nigerians, particularly Lagosians equally felt a new pride in them. Their joy was manifested in one aspect that they hosted Africa.
So when I look back at the just ended LIMBE FESTAC, I feel the same excitement that caught me in Lagos many years ago, and I see myself asking that same question: when next can we find such a gathering of Africans both at home and the Diaspora ? Is there an African country that picks up the challenge? In the immediate, my only consolation is that the Limbe FESTAC is by all consideration a pointer to the future. Let its initiator, Motanga keep the flame burning. The future of – course, we cannot tell now. Only time will tell.

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Rio Olympics 2016: Usain Bolt wins 100m gold, Justin Gatlin second

LIMBE FESTAC 2016: A pointer to the future