Usain Bolt was a vision of composure prior to his final showing.
As was to be expected, the Jamaican legend joked with the World Athletics Championship mascot before posing for his adoring fans inside the London Stadium.
But inside his head, long before the baton touched his palm, Bolt knew there was something wrong.
Scheduled for a 9.50pm start, the men’s 4x100m relay final didn’t start until after 10pm. Now that may not sound like much but athletes involved in sports which require explosive bursts will know all too well the importance of warming up.
Bolt was trusted with the final sprint of the Jamaican team’s relay effort and he took off well when teammate Yohan Blake thrust the baton into his grasp but, just seconds later, Bolt was forced to pull up and a career of coasting to the finish line ended with the greatest sprinter of all time unable to even cross.
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Athletics fans would have felt that they’d had their fill of heartbreak an hour earlier, when Mo Farah was brought to tears after being forced to settle for silver in his last track race, but they quickly found out how cruel sport can be when Bolt had to limp away from his career in agony.
Following the race, which was won by Great Britain, Bolt’s teammates suggested the reason for the 30-year-old’s hamstring injury.
“The race was 10 minutes late, we were kept 40 minutes. It was crazy,” Blake said, via the BBC.
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“They were holding us too long.”
All those involved in the men’s 4x100m relay final were forced to warm up several times because the delay resulted in their bodies cooling down.
“It was 40 minutes and two medal presentations before our run,” 2011 world 100m champion Blake continued.
“We keep warming up and waiting, then warming up and waiting. I think it got the better of us.
“It hurts to see a true legend, a true champion go out there and struggle like that.”
Saturday night was not exactly a warm one in London and Omar McLeod, who began Jamaica’s effort, echoed Blake’s frustration with the organisers.
“It was ridiculous. We were there waiting, and we were really trying to stay warm, but it was really ridiculous, we waited a really long time,” McLeod said, via Jamaica-Gleaner.
“I drank like two bottles of water.”
Mo Farah’s lengthy lap of honour and two medal presentation ceremonies were responsible for the postponement which, according to the second Jamaican runner, Julian Forte, may have resulted in Bolt’s muscles being too cold come race time.
“They kept us in the call room extremely long in our running kits, we were getting cold and it’s not the warmest weather over here and they kept us a while. I think they really need to look into that and do something about it,” Forte said.
