Yohan Blake beat Usain Bolt in the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the Jamaican Olympic trials, won the 2011 world championship in the 100m — a race in which Bolt did not participate — and was viewed as the reason Bolt wasn’t a runaway favorite to repeat his stunning feat from the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Yohan Blake Takes Silver Behind Usain Bolt In Men’s 100m
Blake ran the race of his life Sunday night in London, but it wasn’t enough. Bolt lowered his Olympic record to 9.63 seconds, and Blake finished in second place, securing a silver medal in his first career Olympic final in 9.75 seconds, among the fastest times ever recorded. He beat American Justin Gatlin by .04 seconds, sharing the medal stand with Bolt, his friend and training partner. The two hugged after the race as they ran around Olympic stadium wearing the black, green and yellow Jamaican flags.
Blake didn’t seem the least bit disappointed with his finished, as evidenced by an interview he gave directly after the race, courtesy of Reuters:
“Usain knows what it takes, he is a world beater and he is the fastest man in the world. But I got a medal in my first Olympic Games and a lot of that is down to Usain and our coach.”
Blake will try again to best Bolt in the 200-meter finals next week, though that won’t be easy. As dominant as Bolt is in the 100, he’s even better in the 200.
For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation’s London 2012 Olympics Hub.
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