Rio Olympics 2016: Usain Bolt had second-slowest reaction time of the 100 metres final – but still powered through to win third straight title
USAIN BOLT might have powered to his third consecutive 100 metres title with ease - but he was almost left in the blocks.
The 29-year-old had the second-slowest reaction time of any of the 100m finalists in Rio.
Between gun and movement, Bolt's reaction was 0.155 seconds.
That was the second SLOWEST of the field, with South Africa's Akani Simbine reacting in 0.128sec.
The difference is - of course - just hundredths of a second - a period of time imperceptible to humans.
But with American Justin Gatlin pushing him all the way, he might have wanted to get out of the blocks to a flier.
In athletics, any reaction from the blocks faster than 0.1sec is regarded as a false start.
Boffins reckon that if you react within 0.1sec of the gun, you are in fact guessing when the gun is going to go off and it is not in fact a reaction - and the IAAF have implemented that thinking as a rule.
But Bolt's usually sluggish start was again a problem in Brazil, as he came through the first 10 metres about half a metre down on rival Gatlin.
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At the 40-metre mark, Bolt was as far back as SIXTH out of the eight starters for the final.
But as usual - that is where the Jamaican turns on his nitro stride.
And he began to use those famous pins to hawk down Gatlin, who had pulled ahead of the field.
By 60 metres Bolt was level with the 34-year-old American with a view to pulling clear.
But it wasn't until the final few strides that Bolt really put daylight between himself and second-placed Gatlin.
He eventually came through the clear winner in 9.81 sec.
Bolt said the short time between the semi-finals and final might have been a factor.
He said: "I expected to go faster, but I think the time was so quick, we had to come back out and as soon as we got in (from the semi-final) we had to come back out, so I didn't run faster.
"But I'm just happy that I won and that's the key thing."