De Grasse, Bolt and Gatlin: A brief oral history of the men's 100m race in their words

Usain Bolt made Olympic history in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday night, winning his third consecutive gold medal in the men's 100-metre race. The sprinter from Jamaica crossed the finish line in a time of 9.81 seconds.

American Justin Gatlin, who came into the event dogged by previous doping suspensions and questions about whether he should be allowed to compete, took silver in a time of 9.89 seconds.

RELATED: With an Olympic bronze medal, the ride for Andre De Grasse has only just begun

And 21-year-old Canadian Andre De Grasse, making his Olympic debut, claimed the bronze medal in a personal-best 9.91 seconds, serving notice that he could be the early favourite for gold in 2020.

Here is a brief recounting of the historic night, in the athletes' own words:

9:07 pm (local time).
Bolt and De Grasse face off in the second of three semifinal heats. Bolt lays down a lightning quick 9.86-second race – fast for a semifinal – which catches De Grasse off guard.

De Grasse: "He just kicked it into the next gear, and I tried to go with him a little bit, and I was like, 'Wait, this is the semifinal. Why am I even trying to chase him right now?' So I just said, 'Let me just try to save it for the final.'"

De Grasse qualifies for the final in second place, with a time of 9.92 seconds. It is his best time of the season. Gatlin is third-fastest, with a semifinal time of 9.94. The 100-metre final is scheduled to start 1 hour, 18 minutes later, which is a shorter break than the runners are used to at meets.

Bolt: "Going into the [final] race I felt confident. My legs felt a little bit tired from the fact that it was so close, back-to-back races, but I was just thinking about execution. I was like, 'You know what, as long as I execute right and I don't panic and just run through the line, then I'll be fine.'"

10:20 pm.
The final eight sprinters are introduced over the stadium loudspeaker, and walk out to mixed reactions from the crowd. Bolt is greeted with a thundering roar from the roughly 46,000 people in attendance. De Grasse, who is not as well known, draws a less raucous cheer. Meanwhile, Gatlin – seen as a villain for his past doping suspensions – is greeted with a chorus of boos that fills the stadium.

Gatlin: "People were booing, they don't even know me. But when we [the sprinters] are back in the warm-up area, I give love to De Grasse, I give love to Yohan [Blake], I give love to Usain, and we all have respect for each other. So I just would like to see everyone have respect in the audience as well."

Bolt: "I was pretty shocked. I didn't expect [the booing] but, I really don't know what to say because it's the first I've ever seen this happen."

10:23 pm.
As the runners warm up in their starting blocks, Bolt is toying with De Grasse, smiling at him and making jokes. The two sprinters, who are both sponsored by Puma, have met before, and De Grasse knows Bolt likes to stay loose by not taking things too seriously.

De Grasse: "We joked a lot in the call room [and] when we got on the track we were still joking around. It kind of felt like it was a fun [race]. I wasn't thinking about it too seriously when you've got a guy like him."

"He always motivates me to try to come out there and try to beat him, but as you see, he's just a different beast, he's a different animal."

10:25 pm.
The sprinters are called to take their marks. The stadium falls silent. The drone of a helicopter overhead is the only sound that can be heard. When the starter's gun goes off, De Grasse's reaction time – which is the time it takes for a sprinter to respond to the gun by beginning his motion out of the blocks – is clocked at 0.141 seconds. That is faster than Bolt, who is known as a slower starter (.155), and Gatlin (.152).

Despite his quick reaction, though, De Grasse's first 20 metres are slower than the other two sprinters. Gatlin jumps out to an early lead, while Bolt is feeling the impact of the short break between the semifinals and gold-medal final.

Bolt: "My legs kind of felt dead off the start, but I knew once I got running I'd be fine…. I knew Justin Gatlin is always going to get his signature start, so I have to stay cool."

De Grasse: "I probably did a couple of things wrong in the beginning of the race that cost me in the end."

Bolt trails Gatlin for the first half of the race. But at the midway point, roughly 4.9 seconds in, Bolt realizes the American is fading.

Bolt: "I got to 50 metres, then I was like, alright, I could tell that I was going to catch him. Probably I knew [I was going to win] from 50 metres out."

At 70 metres, De Grasse is trying to catch Bolt, but the Canadian can sense the Jamaican sprinting legend is accelerating as the race progresses.

De Grasse: "I saw Bolt go at about 70, 80 [metres] and I tried to go with him but he just had that extra gear. So I knew I was in contention for a silver medal and I just tried to lean at the line."

Gatlin: "I just had tunnel vision going through the whole race. When I crossed the finish line, I didn't even know if I was going to be on the podium or not."

At the finish line, a stunned De Grasse drops to his knees. He knows he's won a medal, he's just not sure which one.

De Grasse: "I was waiting for the time to pop up on the board, I felt like I had silver in me. And I was like okay, Gatlin got silver, okay, I must have got bronze. I was just waiting – I got a personal best – and it just hit me. I was so happy."

The bronze medal makes De Grasse the first man to medal for Canada at the Rio Olympics.

De Grasse: "I actually didn't even know that, I was just so focused on my race, I wasn't even paying attention to that. It feels pretty good. Canada hasn't had a sprinter [medal] in 20 years since Donovan Bailey and I'm just happy to be in that same conversation. And one day hopefully… I can be a gold medalist like him."

Gatlin, 34, is relieved to have claimed the silver.

Gatlin: "I'm just happy to be on the podium, man. I'm the oldest guy in the field, so for me to run and finish the race and to be able to be on the podium is an honour. Going against guys like Usain, and then guys like De Grasse who are up and coming, I'm jockeying for position, I'm happy to be here."

After the race Bolt heaps praise on De Grasse.

Bolt: "For me, De Grasse is showing he's ready. He's done it back-to-back from last year [where he won bronze at the world championships]. So we know that the future of the sport is in good hands."

And Gatlin praises Bolt.

Gatlin: "I'm competitor, he's a competitor. We both want to win. And at the end of the day, may the best man win. Today, Usain has been the best man. And so my hat's off to him."

Bolt, who set the 100-metre world record in 2009 in a time of 9.58 seconds, knows the race is far from his best.

Bolt: "It wasn't the perfect race. It wasn't. But the fact that I won, which is why we are all here – to win – the fact that I got the win, I'm happy with that."

De Grasse and Bolt joke around after the race. Bolt tells him he has a bright future.

De Grasse: "It's a confidence booster for me. I'm so young and these guys have been racing for so long, I still have a lot to learn in the sport."

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