RIO DE JANEIRO -- Maybe the single most mind-blowing part of Usain Bolt's sizzling 100-meter sprint into Olympic history Sunday night was that, hey, he found a few seconds to actually partake in the thing.
I mean, buried within those 9.81 seconds it took to once again make a mockery of the Games' marquee event, the man somehow pulled off a right-fisted thump of his chest, a glance up at the scoreboard to check his time and, yeah, the trademark stumble out of the blocks that had him trailing his eternal runner-up Justin Gatlin at the mid-mark.
It didn't matter.
It never comes close to mattering.
Just ask him.
"It was brilliant," Bolt would tell us, straight-faced as ever. "I didn't go so fast, but I'm so happy I won. I told you guys I was going to do it."
That he did.
"I came out here to prove to the world that I'm the greatest. And that's what I did."
That he did, as well:
Usain Bolt wins gold in the men's 100-meter sprint. - GETTY
MORE OLYMPICS
• LOCAL • MEDALS • SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Five Rings: Dietzen back on court
Column: Polk embodies Olympics
Column: The greatest race of all
Video: DK on WPXI-TV from Rio
Podcast: DK from Rio