The Jamaican collected his fourth career Olympic gold ahead of world champion teammate Yohan Blake, who clocked 9.75 for silver, with 2004 champion Justin Gatlin taking the bronze in 9.79 seconds.

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"I knew it was going to be like this," Bolt said with typical self-assuredness.

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Bolt's world record of 9.58 seconds, posted in 2009, remained intact, but it was still the second-fastest 100 metres time of all time.

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