Usain Bolt stormed to an unprecedented third straight Olympic 100m title as Wayde van Niekerk smashed Michael Johnson's long-standing 400m record in Rio on Sunday. On a night of high drama Sunday, Bolt galloped past drug-tainted US rival Justin Gatlin to cross in 9.81sec and become the first athlete to win the 100m three times in a row.
The victory set the Jamaican showman off on his quest to complete the 'triple triple' - 100m, 200m and 4x100m gold medals at three consecutive Olympics. "Somebody said I can become immortal. Two more medals to go and I can sign off. Immortal," said Bolt. Minutes earlier, jaws dropped as van Niekerk timed a lightning 43.03sec in the 400m, breaking Johnson's 17-year-old record set in 1999.
"I have never seen anything like that," Johnson told the BBC. "That was a massacre by Van Niekerk. This young man has done something truly special." The fireworks came after an emotional Andy Murray won his second straight men's singles tennis gold as Britain reeled in five gold medals in one day. Fellow Brit Justin Rose became the first Olympic golf champion in 112 years. America's Simone Biles stayed on track for a record five gymnastics gold medals at a single Olympics when she clocked up her third, on the balance beam. And fears over Rio de Janeiro's fragile security rose after Ryan Lochte and three fellow US swimmers were robbed at gunpoint by criminals posing as police.