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Bolt - the superman who even beats injuries

The Jamaican won both at the Rio and London Games despite hamstring and back injuries

After having won the 100m and the 200m races for the third straight time in Olympics, Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt had no doubts in his mind that he was the greatest athlete of all time.
"There's nothing else I can do really," Bolt said after becoming the first man in history to clinch two individual sprint golds in three consecutive Games at the Rio Olympics on Friday.
"I've proven to the world that I'm the greatest and that is what I came here for and that's what I'm doing.
"This is what I worked for throughout the years. I worked to be the best, to be among the greats."
Indeed, people have been running out of adjectives to describe the greatness of a man who has made a habit of effortlessly winning races despite having to deal with serious injury issues.
A back injury at the 2012 London Games did stop him, though, not from winning gold medals but from lowering his own world records in the 100m and 200 events! 
In the 200m at the Olympic Stadium in London four years ago, Bolt had matched the time (19.32sec) set by American legend Michael Johnson at the 1996 Olympic Games.
Before Bolt announced his arrival at the global stage with stunning wins at the 2008 Beijing Games, Johnson's 1996 record was considered as one of the greatest feats in athletics. But remarkably Bolt proved that he could match that record even while he was struggling with a back injury. That gives you a very good insight to the kind of impact the Jamaican had on the sport.
"The world record was possible when I came off the corner but I wasn't fit enough," he said after that race in London four years ago. 
"I was fast but not fit enough, I could feel the strain on my back so I tried to keep my form and keep going. It is hard for me, I really dedicate to my work, I know what London meant to me, and I gave it my all. I gave it my best it was hard I really wanted to break the world record and tried but just not fit enough."
It was indeed staggering to know what Bolt could do even when he was not 100 per cent fit.
Now at the age of 30 at the Rio Games, Bolt once again proved his supreme abilities despite again having injury issues to deal with. 
Bolt was not in the best of shapes coming into the Rio Games and he even had to pull out of the 100m final at the Jamaican Olympic trials. He was eventually named in the Jamaican team on July 11 despite concerns over his fitness. But Bolt was confident that he would regain complete fitness before the start of the Rio Games.
Now with two stunning wins in Rio where he completely destroyed the field in the 200m and overcame a slow start to clinch the 100m, Bolt has taken his Olympic gold tally to eight. 
He is now expected to complete the Olympic hat-trick for the third time in his glorious career when the Jamaicans compete in the men's 4x100 relay. 
"I've just proven to the world that you can do it clean, with hard work and determination. I have made the sport exciting, made people want to see the sport, want to watch the sport, I just put the sport on a different level," said Bolt in Rio on Thursday night reminding everyone of his contributions to athletics at a time when doping scandals have threatened to ruin its image.
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com