United States' Justin Gatlin wins his heat in the 100 meter semifinals during the athletics competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 14,... (Associated Press) 
 
 RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Usain Bolt became the first person to win three straight Olympic 100-meter titles, blowing down the straightaway in 9.81 seconds for his seventh overall Olympic gold. 
 
 American Justin Gatlin, Bolt's closest pursuer over the past four years, finished second, .08 seconds behind. Andre de Grasse of Canada won the bronze. 
 
 Bolt came into the Olympics not having run a 100 since June 30, when he pulled out of Jamaican national championships with a bad left hamstring. 
 
 The rehab began immediately, and on a muggy Sunday night in Rio, the shining star of track and field showed no signs of distress. 
 
 After a typically clunky burst out of the starting block, he started pulling away from Gatlin with about 30 meters left. 
 
 He's not done. Qualifying for the men's 200, his favorite race, starts Tuesday, with the relay on Friday. ||||| Wayde van Niekerk started out in Lane 8, wide to the right of two Olympic champions, the starting position usually reserved for runners who go home and beam with pride about just making the final. He could see none of his competitors in the men’s 400 meters, and no one would suspect him. He hailed from South Africa, which had not produced an individual sprinting gold medalist since 1920. He employed as a coach a 74-year-old, white-haired Namibian great-grandmother. 
 
 Van Niekerk was not a nobody, not by a long shot: He had run the fourth-fastest 400 time ever last year to win the world championships. But he put his feet in the blocks Sunday night as an afterthought in his own race, let alone in the entire program, on a night Usain Bolt would end his Olympic 100-meter career. Van Niekerk finished second to no one. On a warm night at Olympic Stadium, Wayde van Niekerk of Cape Town, South Africa, ran once around an oval track faster than any man ever had before. 
 
 In the span of 43.03 seconds, van Niekerk’s life changed, his coach became an instant Internet celebrity and the fabled record Michael Johnson held for 17 years fell by a margin of 0.15 seconds. When van Niekerk crossed the finish line ahead of silver medalist Kirani James of Grenada and American bronze winner LaShawn Merritt — the gold medalists in 2012 and 2008, respectively — he stared at the race clock, wiped his face and fell to his knees, barely able to process what he had done. 
 
 “To be honest with you,” van Niekerk said. “I never envisioned I would set the world record.” 
 
 [The 74-year-old great-grandmother behind the new 400-meter world record holder] 
 
 1 of 55 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Rio 2016 Olympics: Day 9 View Photos Here are some of the best photos of the day. Caption Here are some of the best photos of the day. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt does his lightning pose after winning gold in the 100-meter dash for the third consecutive Olympics. Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 No athlete could steal the spotlight from Bolt as he ran the final 100-meter race of his career. Van Niekerk had at least managed to rent space under it. He went from unknown outside track circles to Bolt’s global co-star. 
 
 “My favorite event is the 200 meters,” van Niekerk said, chuckling. “I’d love to race him.” 
 
 Van Niekerk’s ascension began three years ago, when he started working under a 74-year-old great-grandmother named Ans Botha . She is a renowned figure in South African track, but van Niekerk introduced to her a world stage, thanks largely to a well-timed Daily Mail story that pinballed around social media Sunday night. Her runners call her Tannie Ans: Aunt Ans in her native Afrikaans. 
 
 Botha may seem like an oddity, only a comic contrast for a world-class sprinter. But among her runners, her instruction is serious and sacred. 
 
 “When I first met her, I was afraid of her,” said South African sprinter Akani Simbine, van Niekerk’s roommate in Rio. “I was scared of her. She seems very strict. But she was very loving. As soon as she got to know me, she started showing love. 
 
 “She’s very loving, you know. But when the track workouts need to be done, she makes sure you get them done. She makes sure that you get the message. But she gets excited. When gets really excited, she lets out a big, ‘Yes!’ ” 
 
 Botha may have let out the biggest one yet Sunday night. Van Niekerk started in Lane 8 after running a semifinal qualifying time of 44.45 seconds. He also runs the 200 meters, so he possesses the ability to start fast. Midway through the race, he had seized control. 
 
 University of Virginia physics professor Lou Bloomfield explains some of the fundamental forces at work in Olympic sprinting, and how runners use sprinting blocks to get ahead. (Thomas Johnson,Julio Negron,Danielle Kunitz,Dani Johnson,Osman Malik/The Washington Post) 
 
 [Usain Bolt makes history, wins third straight Olympic 100 meters] 
 
 “When a guy goes out like that, the last 100, usually he slows down a little bit,” James said. “But he just kept going. And when you keep going like, a world record is going to fall.” 
 
 In Lanes 5 and 6, Merritt and James jockeyed around the final turn. They both saw van Niekerk to their right, a blur up ahead. They both thought he would fade. His lead only grew more impenetrable, lithe and strong, leaning for the finish. 
 
 “I thought somebody was going to catch me,” van Niekerk said. “I felt very alone at the end. I thought, ‘What’s going on?’ ” 
 
 “He was running blind, so he really didn’t have anybody to cue off of,” Merritt said. “It was just, when the gun goes off, take off. And that’s what gets you 43.0.” 
 
 The race served as a leap forward not only for van Niekerk, but for the 400 itself. Merritt’s bronze-winning time of 43.85 would have won gold in 2012 and fell just shy of the 43.75 he ran to win gold at the Beijing 2008 Games. 
 
 “The event is getting stronger,” Merritt said. “I knew the record was going to go soon. And the 43.0 will go one day as well. It’s just a great era for the 400.” 
 
 Merritt’s bronze served as a sweet accomplishment. In 2008, just 22 and coming off two gold medals in Beijing, Merritt owned a career’s worth of accomplishment and much more time to add to it. 
 
 [Jerry Brewer: Usain Bolt runs into history, takes place among greatest athletes of all-time] 
 
 The wave of euphoria lasted less than 18 months. Between October 2009 and January 2010, Merritt tested positive three times for banned substances DHEA and pregnenolone. Merritt publicly insisted the positive tests resulted from frequent usage of ExtenZe, an herbal sexual enhancement product sold at gas stations and convenience stores. He appealed his case before an arbiter, who determined Merritt had not intentionally doped, so his name was cleared. He still received a 21-month suspension, blamed for negligence. 
 
 In May 2012, by which time Merritt had reestablished himself, Merritt tore a hamstring. He still qualified for London, but the injury forced him to pull out of the Games after running one preliminary heat. Before Sunday, Merritt again had reclaimed his place among the world’s best, and he viewed his Olympic return with little introspection. 
 
 “Another medal,” Merritt said. “I had world championships in there with the same guys on top of the podium. This is the Olympic Games, it’s a little bigger stage. It’s still the same guys who go out battle, and I’m happy to get back here on this stage.” 
 
 The bronze did not strike Merritt as a culmination. He believes he will compete in Tokyo in four years, at age 34. 
 
 “My body feels good,” Merritt said. “I still love the sport. I’ll continue to do it as long as I’m enjoying.” 
 
 In a sense, Merritt strode to the starting line Sunday night still defending a medal eight years after he won it: No one had yet beaten him in an Olympics he could compete in. 
 
 But he had never competed against van Niekerk at the Games. No one had ever competed against a race like he ran Sunday. James hugged van Niekerk, happy to be part of history. In that moment, and many to follow, van Niekerk was still attempting to wrap his mind around it. 
 
 “At this moment,” van Niekerk said, “I’m just grateful for everything that happened tonight.” ||||| Jamaica's Usain Bolt greets fans as he celebrates winning gold in the men's 4 x 100-meter relay final, during the athletics competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Jamaica's Usain Bolt greets fans as he celebrates winning gold in the men's 4 x 100-meter relay final, during the athletics competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/David Goldman) (Associated Press) 
 
 RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Michael Phelps won more medals than anyone else, again. And then he said farewell, also again. 
 
 Usain Bolt kissed the finish line goodbye after enhancing his Olympic legacy. Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky delivered under the burden of enormous expectations. Two strangers went from rivals to forever-linked by a display of kindness, an entire island seemed to celebrate a tennis match, and a gold medalist scampered home to avoid legal issues after a robbery story unraveled. 
 
 And then the home team won soccer gold. 
 
 The Rio de Janeiro Olympics were not perfect. 
 
 But there were moments — some great, some dreadful and some downright ugly — that will not, and should not, be forgotten. 
 
 Here's a look: 
 
 ___ 
 
 MEDAL LEADERS 
 
 The U.S. dominated the medal count, a rare romp in a non-boycotted games. There's still more medals to win Sunday, but the margin of overall victory could be the most in a fully attended games in 68 years. Phelps won six medals, five of them gold, to increase his career haul to 23 Olympic titles and 28 medals overall. Ledecky and Biles each won five medals; Biles will carry the U.S. flag into the closing ceremony. And U.S. shooter Kim Rhode has now won a medal in six consecutive Olympics — and she might not be done. 
 
 ___ 
 
 BEST FINISH 
 
 Bolt kissing the finish line after his ninth and final Olympic gold — in nine final races — was a perfect ending. He ran the anchor leg of the 4x100-meter relay for Jamaica, won emphatically to become the third athlete ever with nine golds in track and field, and insists that this will be the end of his Olympic career. 
 
 "Nothing left to prove," Bolt said. 
 
 He's right. 
 
 "I am the greatest," he added. 
 
 Right again. 
 
 ___ 
 
 BEST ACT OF SPORTSMANSHIP 
 
 An easy pick. 
 
 In the women's 5,000-meter heat, Abbey D'Agostino of the U.S. and New Zealand's Nikki Hamblin — strangers before that day — were involved in a tumble. D'Agostino helped Hamblin up, encouraging her to finish the race. D'Agostino tore a knee ligament in the fall and obviously couldn't finish. Hamblin wound up finishing last of 17 in the 5,000 final, so neither left with a medal. 
 
 Instead, they got so much more. 
 
 "That girl is the Olympic spirit right there," Hamblin said of D'Agostino. "I've never met her before. Like I never met this girl before. And isn't that just so amazing?" 
 
 Yes, it is. 
 
 ___ 
 
 BIGGEST EMBARRASSMENT 
 
 Another easy pick, even in a games where an Egyptian was sent home after failing to shake an Israeli judo opponent's hand. 
 
 Ryan Lochte is a 12-time Olympic medalist, and the odds that he'll have a chance to ever swim for a 13th are as murky as some of the pools were in these Rio Games. Lochte's story that a robber put a gun to his head quickly unraveled, his three teammates who were companions that night all were left to answer legal questions after he scurried home, and more repercussions from the U.S. Olympic Committee are likely coming. 
 
 "It's traumatic to be out late with your friends in a foreign country — with a language barrier," read part of the apology that Lochte released on social media Friday. 
 
 Maybe so, but it bears noting that language barrier or no language barrier, the incident occurred after Lochte left a night out at ... Club France. So it would seem like not all foreign atmospheres struck him as traumatic before now. 
 
 ___ 
 
 BREAKOUT STAR 
 
 We asked. You voted. 
 
 Narrowing the list of potential candidates to four — Simone Manuel (four swimming medals), Joseph Schooling (beat Phelps for a gold in the pool), Monica Puig (whose tennis gold was Puerto Rico's first Olympic title in any sport) and Ibtihaj Muhammad (the barrier-breaking fencing medalist) — AP asked its Twitter followers to have a say in deciding this one. 
 
 The response was overwhelming, and one-sided: Puig is the breakout star of these games. 
 
 Reduced to tears many times after draping the Puerto Rican flag across her body after the gold-medal match, Puig beat two of the world's best five players to win the title. 
 
 "To do this ... is everything," Puig said. 
 
 The Olympic ideal, personified. 
 
 ___ 
 
 BEST COACH 
 
 Due respect to Mike Krzyzewski, Geno Auriemma, Martha Karolyi and the Japanese wrestling coach who found himself getting body-slammed twice in celebration by women's gold medalist Risako Kawai, this one goes to Ans Botha — the 74-year-old great-grandmother who guided South Africa's Wayde Van Niekerk to Olympic gold and a world record in the men's 400 sprint. 
 
 Her style is simple. When the smile goes away and the voice gets stern, it's time to get serious. Sort of like most great-grandmothers. 
 
 "She's an amazing woman," Van Niekerk said. "Her work ... I think it speaks for itself." 
 
 ___ 
 
 BEST COUPLE 
 
 Decathlon champion Ashton Eaton of the U.S. and his wife, heptathlon bronze medalist Brianne Thiesen-Eaton of Canada, would be a very easy selection here. 
 
 But what Kate Richardson-Walsh and Helen Richardson-Walsh did was even more rare. 
 
 They're married, and played for the same gold-medal winning British women's field hockey team. In a games that had more openly gay athletes than ever before, theirs was a moment that surely resonated with many around the world who don't know the first thing about field hockey. 
 
 "To win an Olympic medal is special. To win an Olympic medal with your wife standing next to you ... we will cherish this for the rest of our lives," Kate Richardson-Walsh said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 BEST BACK-AND-FORTH 
 
 When the U.S. women's soccer team was ousted by Sweden (and former U.S. coach Pia Sundhage), American goalkeeper Hope Solo raised eyebrows with her assessment of the match. 
 
 But her former coach had the perfect rebuttal. 
 
 "We lost to a bunch of cowards," Solo said. 
 
 "It's OK to be cowards if you win," Sundhage countered. 
 
 ___ 
 
 BIGGEST OFF-FIELD STAR 
 
 A tough category, especially after Leslie Jones of "Saturday Night Live" parlayed hilarious Twitter commentary into an invite to Rio. Matthew McConaughey hung out with everyone from the U.S. women's rugby team to Phelps, and Gisele Bundchen's catwalk in the opening ceremony was one not to forget. 
 
 But the pick here is Zac Efron, who flew to Rio just to surprise the U.S. women's gymnastics team — particularly Biles, who doesn't hide her enormous crush on the actor. 
 
 He also saw Bolt and the U.S. men's basketball team, but let's face it, no one is going to ignore invites to hang with Biles and the U.S. gymnasts right now. 
 
 ___ 
 
 BEST SPIN 
 
 No one might have been better at their job during the Olympics than Mario Andrada, the spokesman for the Rio Games organizing committee. 
 
 When something went wrong it was his job to explain it — and do so with the world watching and listening. He and International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams held daily hourlong briefings with reporters, and Andrada offered up some quote gems. So we'll go ahead and award his head-scratching statements their own set of medals. 
 
 The bronze: "Numbers mislead," he said, as part of an answer about ticket sales and poor crowds. 
 
 The silver: "Let's give these kids a break," he said of Lochte and his U.S. swimming teammates, after their incident. 
 
 The gold: "Chemistry is not an exact science," he said, talking about why the water at a diving pool went from blue to green. 
 
 ___ 
 
 BEST BRAZILIAN MOMENT ... 
 
 Stand up and cheer, City of God. 
 
 One of your own is now an Olympic champion. 
 
 Slums, or favelas, are everywhere in Rio — none more infamous than the City of God, which rose to fame through the 2002 movie of the same name that depicted life in the slum. Rafaela Silva grew up there, and she won gold in judo at these Rio Games. 
 
 Now that's a made-for-Hollywood story. 
 
 ___ 
 
 ... THAT IS, UNTIL THIS HAPPENED 
 
 How's this for a storybook ending for Brazil? 
 
 Soccer gold — and in most dramatic style, too. 
 
 Brazil vs. Germany, men's soccer, gold-medal matchup. Neymar gives the hosts a 1-0 lead, but the Germans tie it and ultimately it goes to penalty kicks to decide the Olympic champion. 
 
 Germany makes its first four. 
 
 So does Brazil. 
 
 Then Germany is stopped on its fifth, and the stage is set for Neymar — who else? — to set off a national celebration. His shot sails into the back of the net, Brazil wins and the roar could be heard all over Rio as Neymar collapsed on the field in a quivering mass of joyous tears. 
 
 Forget all the problems these games had. Forget how many Brazilians opposed them in the first place. 
 
 They got their perfect finish to an imperfect Olympics.
– "Unreal," proclaimed ESPN. Usain Bolt on Sunday won an unprecedented third Olympic gold in the 100 meters, defeating Justin Gatlin of the US by .08 seconds. Bolt became the first person (man or woman, notes the New York Times) to win three straight Olympic 100-meter titles, blowing down the straightaway in 9.81 seconds for his seventh overall Olympic gold. American Justin Gatlin, Bolt's closest pursuer over the past four years, finished second, .08 seconds behind. Andre de Grasse of Canada won the bronze, reports the AP. The fastest Bolt has ever run the 100 meters is a world-record time of 9.58. Bolt came into the Olympics not having run a 100 since June 30, when he pulled out of Jamaican national championships with a bad left hamstring. The rehab began immediately, and on a muggy Sunday night in Rio, the shining star of track and field showed no signs of distress. After a typically clunky burst out of the starting block, he started pulling away from Gatlin with about 30 meters left. "As we’ve seen so many times before in major finals, his rivals were tightening up and Bolt was flowing," observes the Guardian. He's not done. Qualifying for the men's 200, his favorite race, starts Tuesday, with the relay on Friday. The Times reports one of his big remaining goals is to break the 19-second mark in the 200 meters; his world-record time is 19.19. He's won all but five of his 74 races since 2008.