Bolt regains 100-meter gold in the rain

MOSCOW: Usain Bolt restored order to the world of sprinting.
Regaining the 100-meter world championship gold he lost through a false start two years ago, the Olympic champion once again holds every major sprint title there is.
And he shook off rain, a slow start and any doubters Sunday to prove there never has been an athlete quite like him.
Despite getting late out of the blocks in the downpour, the Jamaican superstar steadily caught up with 2004 Olympic champion Justin Gatlin and left the American behind with a trademark late burst of speed that, still, no one can match.
If the result was predictable, the demeanor was not.
At 26, he has left most the hot-dogging that has made him famous behind. While he used to start celebrating well before the finish on big wins, he remained expressionless this time as he ran across the line watching his performance on the giant screen in front of him.
It took him several minutes of understated celebrations before he unleashed the mighty “Lightning Bolt” pose that made him famous across the globe.
His winning time was almost irrelevant, 9.77 seconds, .19 seconds slower than his world record. Gatlin crossed second in 9.85, while Bolt’s teammate, Nesta Carter, took bronze in 9.95.
If Bolt did not produce a sense of theater himself, the elements did it for him. Lightning flashed over Luzhniki Stadium half an hour before the final, and the rain started pouring in as the finalists entered the arena.
To the cheers of about 25,000 fans, the stadium address system started blaring Bob Marley’s classic “Three Little Birds” and he was loosening his neck muscles to the lyrics, “Don’t worry, ‘bout a thing. ‘Cause every little thing is gonna be all right.”
It was for him. Not his opponents.
Gatlin had beaten Bolt in Rome early this season, and could take some hope from a blistering start on Sunday. But once those huge strides of Bolt started catching up with him, it was all over.
In a golden day for the United States Ashton Eaton added the world title to his Olympic decathlon gold medal and Brittney Reese reigned over the long jump for the third time in a row.
Eaton blazed away from competition on the second and final day of the 10-discipline event and was able to cruise home in the 1,500 meters to claim the biggest title which still eluded him.
A standout 110 hurdles to start the day allowed him to confidently build an increasing lead and he sealed it with a big javelin throw in the penultimate event.
Finishing sixth in the final race in the muggy heat of about 30 degrees C (86 degrees F) was more than enough for Eaton, who won with 8,809 points.
For Reese, it was another world championships of living dangerously. Reese only reached the final as the last qualifier.
On Sunday though, a huge jump of 7.01 meters on her second attempt was good for gold, beating Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria by 2 centimeters.
At 26, the gold made Reese the defining long jumper of the past half decade with six straight major international titles.
She celebrated wearing a T-shirt that read “Unleash the Beast,” referring to the nickname she earned as a relentless competitor.

Host nation Russia won its first gold medal at the championships when 20-year-old Aleksandr Ivanov won the 20-kilometer walk in a sweltering race, beating Olympic champion Chen Ding.
As so often in the walk, disqualifications for running or technical infractions were crucial. Two kilometers from the finish, Erick Barrondo of Guatemala edged ahead of Ivanov, not knowing that he had just received his disqualification card.
Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba produced an effortless masterclass in middle-distance running to win a third world 10,000m title on Sunday.
Dibaba clocked 30min 43.37sec, with Gladys Cherono of Kenya taking silver (30:45.17), and Ethiopia's Belaynesh Oljira claiming bronze (30:46.98).
Dibaba can rightly be lauded as queen of the 10km event, having also won two Olympic golds over the distance.
The 27-year-old missed the Daegu worlds in 2011 because of injury but has never lost in her 10 outings over 25 laps of the track.
The self-proclaimed "baby-faced destroyer", a nickname she professes to adore, comes in the mould of male compatriots, Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele.
Four world golds (5,000m in 2003 and 2005, 10,000m in 2005 and 2007), three Olympic golds (the double in 2008 and 10,000m gold in 2012) as well as two 5,000m Olympic bronzes (2004 and 2012) is testimony to her dominance.
She also has four golds and two silvers from the world cross-country championships.