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Bolt: I expected to go faster

Cape Town - Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt claimed gold over 100m for the third Olympic games running, beating rival Justin Gatlin in the process.

The 29-year-old was quick to tweet to the folks back home, writing "Jamaica Stand Up!!! This for you my people", before insisting that he wasn’t completely satisfied with his race.

'I'm really happy but I expected to go faster,' he told the BBC. "After the semis I felt extremely good. I wanted to run faster.

"But with the turnaround time, we normally have two hours, but we had one hour 20 minutes, it was challenging."

The build-up to the race focused on the rivalry between Bolt and American sprinter Justin Gatlin, who took silver but was first out the blocks and in the lead until the final stretch.

If Bolt was the hero of the night, the 34-year-old from Brooklyn was the villain because of his controversial history with drug bans, and while the Brazilian crowd cheered for Bolt they greeted Gatlin with a chorus of boos.

"For me I was surprised," Bolt said of the incident. "It is the first time I have come into a stadium and they booed someone. It was shocking."

But when talk turned to the remaining events, the Jamaican was his usual confident self as he looks to secure a "treble treble" of gold medals in the upcoming 200m race and the 4x100m relay, on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.

"I told you guys I was going to do it," he said. "Two more to go."

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