Rogge hails ‘active legend’ Bolt as Olympics end

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International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge hailed Usain Bolt as the greatest sprinter of all time on Sunday as he moved to quell a row with the Jamaican superstar. Bolt brought the curtain down on another glittering Olympic campaign on Saturday with a blistering last leg in Jamaica’s world record-breaking 4x100m relay run to replicate his three gold medals from the 2008 Beijing Games. Bolt’s barnstorming finale came just days after Rogge had said final judgement on the sprinter’s place in the Olympic pantheon would have to wait until his career was over. Rogge’s comments were given short shrift by Bolt however following Saturday’s relay triumph. “First of all I would like to answer with a question. What else do I need to do to prove myself as a legend?,” Bolt said.”I’ve won both events twice at the Olympics. I’ve won world championship gold medals, I’ve broken world records many times so I don’t know what else to do really. “So next time you see him (Rogge) I think you should ask him what Usain needs to do. I don’t know what else to do really.” However Rogge moved to damp down the verbal spat on Sunday as the Games drew to a close. Asked again where he ranked Bolt, Rogge replied: “It is a semantic question but you would say that Usain Bolt is an active performance legend, an icon and the best sprinter of all time.”