AFP, Los Angeles :
Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps towered over the 2016 Rio Games, capping an era of sustained excellence that promises to reverberate through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and beyond.
From Beijing in 2008 through London 2012 and, finally, in Rio, Bolt and Phelps captivated both die-hard fans of their sports and casual spectators attracted like moths to the Olympic flame.
More importantly, they inspired a legion of young competitors determined to flourish on sport’s biggest stage even as Olympic officials grapple with soaring costs, corruption and the ever-present spectre of doping.
“It’s not even once in a generation-it may be once in 10 generations that someone like Michael comes along,” said Bob Bowman, the coach who nurtured Phelps from an age-group phenomenon to an Olympic superstar whose five gold medals in Rio took his already stunning tally to 23 gold among a total of 28.
The same could be said of Bolt, who has dominated in the tests of speed that are the quintessential sporting contests, maintaining his supremacy over an unprecedented span of years.
“I’ve proven to the world I’m the greatest,” declared the ebullient Jamaican, who preens and poses with the same unabashed ardor with which he raced to three Olympic sprint trebles.
Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps towered over the 2016 Rio Games, capping an era of sustained excellence that promises to reverberate through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and beyond.
From Beijing in 2008 through London 2012 and, finally, in Rio, Bolt and Phelps captivated both die-hard fans of their sports and casual spectators attracted like moths to the Olympic flame.
More importantly, they inspired a legion of young competitors determined to flourish on sport’s biggest stage even as Olympic officials grapple with soaring costs, corruption and the ever-present spectre of doping.
“It’s not even once in a generation-it may be once in 10 generations that someone like Michael comes along,” said Bob Bowman, the coach who nurtured Phelps from an age-group phenomenon to an Olympic superstar whose five gold medals in Rio took his already stunning tally to 23 gold among a total of 28.
The same could be said of Bolt, who has dominated in the tests of speed that are the quintessential sporting contests, maintaining his supremacy over an unprecedented span of years.
“I’ve proven to the world I’m the greatest,” declared the ebullient Jamaican, who preens and poses with the same unabashed ardor with which he raced to three Olympic sprint trebles.
