Up close: Usain Bolt’s Olympic 100m golden spikes
Get a close-up of Usain Bolt's spikes that he wore during his record-breaking 100m on Sunday as the Jamaican once again won Olympic gold.
Jamaican Usain Bolt came through with a men’s 100m performance to match his shoes on Sunday evening in Rio. Sporting golden spikes, Bolt won the 100m finals in 9.81 to win gold, his third straight win at the Olympic Games in the marquee event.
“He’s immortal now,” said the announcer as Bolt crossed the finish line.
The Jamaican, who holds the world record in the event at 9.58, sported custom, gold spikes for the men’s 100m finals. Puma sponsors both Bolt and the bronze medallist, Canadian Andre De Grasse. The 21-year-old De Grasse wore more conservative red and black spikes for the final.
Up close: The spikes @usainbolt wore last night for his third straight 100m gold (? from his agent @SimmsRicky) pic.twitter.com/a4zMLVyC44
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 15, 2016
RELATED: Andre De Grasse and Usain Bolt’s bromance is real.
Bolt only wore the custom, golden spikes for the finale of the men’s 100m. During the heats and the semifinals, he wore a pair of red and black Pumas, almost identical to De Grasse’s, then swapped out for third and final round. See his initial choice of footwear in the below photo. Notice that the only difference is Bolt’s sopikes are laced while De Grasse has a wire system on his.
The 29-year-old Jamaican became the first person in history to win three consecutive 100m titles at the Olympic Games. He began his sprint dominance in Beijing in 2008 and continued it through to London 2012 and now onto Rio. He will go for the triple-triple, which is nine gold medals in three consecutive Games. The other two events he runs is the 200m and runs as part of the 4x100m.
In his gold-medal performance Sunday, Usain Bolt's reaction time of 0.155 seconds was 2nd-slowest of the 8 runners pic.twitter.com/VkWp8UamUY
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 15, 2016
We will see Bolt again in the men’s 200m heats on Aug. 16.
RELATED: Fans react to Canadian sprint superstar Andre De Grasse’s 100m bronze.
The golden spikes were first made famous by American Michael Johnson during the 1996 Olympics when he wore a pair of custom Nikes. It was a perfect match as Johnson went on to win gold in both the 200m and 400m. It’s a risky move to wear golden spikes for a race that you’re not guaranteed to win, but both Johnson and now Bolt pulled through.
@darrenrovell @usainbolt @SimmsRicky A complete rip-off of this guy: pic.twitter.com/lzfV2b8XDT
— Josh Q. Public (@joshqpublic) August 15, 2016
Bolt was not shy about holding out his golden spikes after the men’s 100m final. Part of the reason is perhaps due to Rule 40, an International Olympic Committee regulation that states non-Olympic sponsors are in a blackout period for marketing during the Games. By holding up his spikes, he’s able to circumvent the rules as plenty of photos were snapped of him with the spikes. Video of that can be seen below.
#StepUpStandTall display of respect between #CAN @De6rasse & #JAM @usainbolt. @CanadianTire https://t.co/cK6X3sT4fw https://t.co/GWptjB2kKb
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 15, 2016
Photos of Bolt and his golden spikes
.@JPosnanski: All @UsainBolt does is run, and that's enough. #Olympicshttps://t.co/WP5xvwwi9a pic.twitter.com/i6IRP66xMd
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) August 15, 2016
@usainbolt Greatest Sprinter of all times. #Olympics #100 #goldx3 @FootCareXpress1 pic.twitter.com/t6o9COOlZW
— Footcare Express (@FootcareXpress) August 15, 2016
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