However, with recurring injury problems affecting his early season, he was ranked 4th in the year with 9.88 seconds, and only raced three 100 m finals before pulling out of the Jamaican Trials; he only qualified for the Olympics through a medical exemption.

Defending silver medallist and joint-second fastest man in history Yohan Blake, who won the Jamaican Trials in Bolt's absence, showed a strong return to form since his near career-ending injuries from 2013–2015.

In the preliminary round, Hassan Saaid of the Maldives and Rodman Teltull of Palau were the fastest to progress, both managing under 10.6 seconds.

Kemarley Brown, Zhenye Xie and Ben Youssef Meite were surprise heat winners, while Vicaut and Bracy amazingly only qualified on time.

The most prominent casualties were Ogunode, Ellington, European champion Churandy Martina, sub-10 Canadian Aaron Brown, 2008 silver medalist Richard Thompson, and his teammate Keston Bledman.

Andre De Grasse finished second in 9.92, equaling his personal best and boosting his status as a medal contender by tenfold.

Gatlin won the last semifinal in an easy 9.94, then immediately left the arena to begin preparing for the final.

However, Bolt quickly hit top speed and surged ahead, catching the American at 75 meters and pulling away at 80.

Gatlin was forced to settle for the silver and was nearly caught by De Grasse, who pipped Blake and Simbine for the Bronze medal.

Previously, only Carl Lewis had won two gold medals in the 100m, a feat which Bolt had matched at the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

The following evening the medals were presented by Valeriy Borzov, IOC member, Ukraine, and Sebastian Coe, President of the IAAF.

[2] Prior to this competition, the existing global and area records were as follows: The following national records were established during the competition: All times are Brasilia Time (UTC-3) The preliminary round featured athletes invited to compete who had not achieved the required qualifying standard.