Bolt: Remember me as the greatest

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil:

It is done! Usain Bolt will never run another individual race at the Olympic Games, and he went out in style last night inside a packed Olympic Stadium, becoming the first man to win three consecutive gold medals in the 100 and 200 metres.

The fans will miss his flair and his amazing performances. The history writers - not so much.

Bolt, who stopped the clock at 19.78 seconds to win by 24 hundredths of a second ahead of Canadian Andre De Grasse, 20.02, and Christophe Lemaitre (France), 20.12, in third, was clear about how he wishes to be remembered.

"I want to be remembered as one of the greatest. I have worked all my career, all my life, so, hopefully, they can read about me as one of the greatest ever in this sport," said Bolt.

It's a storybook ending to an Olympic individual career that started with a first-round elimination after a fifth-place finish at the Athens Olympics in 2004. It's hard to remember that even happening now.

BIG DEAL

"I definitely didn't see this happening back then. In Athens I just went there and all I wanted to do was run the 200m and be Olympic champion once. To be this successful and have eight gold medals now - it's just amazing. It's a big deal, its shocking, but I have worked hard and pushed myself to be the best," said Bolt.

"I came here for this and I got it. I'm happy that I came out and executed and won. That's the key thing. I wasn't so pleased with the time. I wanted to run faster, but my legs decided they weren't having it. I felt tired, but it's just one of those things, but the key thing is that I won and the only thing that matters to me is the gold medal," Bolt added. "It's been mentally and physically challenging, so to get over this hump is great."

It was his sixth straight gold and his 23rd straight win in the 200m at a major championship, lifting his overall gold-medal tally to eight - one behind Carl Lewis, with the men's 4x100m final set for today.

Bolt, who promised an assault on his world records here, noted, too that he has no regrets.

"No, definitely not! I'm never disappointed in anything I do. I have proven myself to the world, I have done great things, I have come back from injury, I am not stressed," said Bolt. "I still have the world record even though it's been a long time. I am happy, I am Olympic champion again, and that's the main thing."