RIO DE JANEIRO -- Not so fast, Usain Bolt.Please dont run away from us after this Olympics. Dont even think about putting an end to the greatest show in track.The Olympics need you badly. The sport of track needs you desperately.On a beautiful night in Rio, the most beautiful sight at the Olympic Stadium had to be Bolt chasing down Justin Gatlin and pulling away to an unprecedented third straight Olympic gold in the race that crowns the fastest man on earth.Bolt preened like the superstar he is, then ran yet another race to back it up. Then he preened some more, much to the delight of those who came to watch history.I told you guys I wanted to set myself apart from everybody else, Bolt said. This is the Olympics that I have to do it at, so I came here focused and ready to go and it was brilliant.The golden shoes were a nice touch, but the gold medal was far more impressive. It was No. 7 over three Olympics for Bolt, and the odds are he will have two more before these Olympics come to a close.If that is truly the end, as Bolt has said it will be, he will go into the record books as the greatest sprinter ever. But Bolt has always been more than that, ever since he announced his dominance of the sport with three gold medals in his Olympic debut eight years ago in Beijing.The mere mention of his name Sunday night prompted roars in the stadium. The victory lap he took carrying a stuffed Olympic mascot was an added bonus, a chance for the crowd to stick around and show him some love.Several hundred of them stayed more than an hour after the race, chanting Bolts name and shrieking with excitement each time it appeared he might come out to acknowledge them.Hes the undisputed star of a sport that doesnt produce stars anymore, a runner so popular in his native Jamaica that he is often compared to the iconic reggae master Bob Marley.And as a runner who has never tested positive for anything, he may be the only thing holding together a sport so decimated by doping that the entire country of Russia was banned from track and field at these Olympics.Its hard to believe anything you see on the track anymore. Thats especially true in the 100, where Ben Johnson famously lost his gold medal in 1988 after a positive drug test, and where four of the five fastest men in the record books have also been caught doping.Believe it, though, when you see the magnificence of a runner so smooth and fast that nothing that made him this spectacular could have come out of a bottle.Hes so good he didnt flinch when afterward he was asked about being the greatest ever.Yeah, thats what Im here to prove. Thats what Im here to prove again and again. I just want to be among the greatest, so thats why I am here.Gatlin would have been heading toward a second Olympic gold in the 100 against anyone else, something that would not have pleased the crowd that booed him because of his doping suspension. This was a race viewed by many as good versus evil, though in track nothing is ever as simple as it looks.Bolt overcame his typically slow start to catch Gatlin just after the midway point of the race and pull away in what for him was a relatively slow time of 9.81 seconds. By the time he hit the finish line Bolt was pointing to his chest, where the only thing missing on his uniform was a Superman cape.Bolt would take a long, lingering victory lap around the stadium, finally stopping in one end to unlace his gold spikes and take selfies with fans. They wanted more, and he delivered once again, turning his yellow hat backward before kneeling down and doing his To the World pose.And over the loudspeakers, Marleys Jammin echoed through the stadium.Theatrical, yes, but thats Bolt. This is a guy, after all, who was last seen taking selfies as he danced the samba with a line of women at his press conference earlier in the week.Hes a showman extraordinaire and an athlete unparalleled. The combination is exquisite, with the only downside being the world only gets to see him this way once every four years.The only hope is that his retirement plans are as short as his races.---Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlbergNike Air VaporMax 2.0 Floral Pure Platinum+Arctic Pink-White . That left plenty of energy for pitching books and swatting away free agency questions. Anthony had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Knicks avenged an embarrassing home loss with a rout of their own, beating the Boston Celtics 114-88 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory. Cheap Vapormax 95 China . Olli Jokinen, Mark Scheifele, and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist as Winnipeg won 5-2, handing Calgary its record-setting seventh consecutive loss on home ice. http://www.clearancevapormax.com/cheap-vapormax-2019-clearance.html . PETERSBURG, Fla. Cheap Vapormax Mens China . They reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth time in five games, bested the visiting Trail Blazers by 34 in the paint and scored 19 of the final 25 points in regulation. Cheap Vapormax 97 China . The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling "puts an end to my dreams of being a top player," the 27-year-old Troicki said in a statement. "I worked my entire life for it, and it has been taken away from me in one afternoon by a doctor I didnt know," said Troicki, whose ranking peaked at No. NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Latest on the sentencing of a former Vanderbilt football player in the rape of an unconscious student (all times local):1:40 p.m.A former Vanderbilt football player who encouraged his teammates to rape an unconscious female student has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.Testimony during the trial showed that Brandon Vandenburg gave condoms to three of his teammates and egged them on. The 23-year-old former player also took cellphone videos of the June 2013 dorm room rape and emailed the footage to friends while the crime was ongoing.Vandenburg had been dating the victim after arriving at Vanderbilt in the summer of 2013.The woman, who has since graduated from Vanderbilt, did not attend the sentencing, but a prosecutor read her statement asking for the maximum sentence. Vandenburg faced 15 to 25 years in prison.At Fridays hearing, Vandenburg blamed alcohol but said he was ashamed of what he had done and asked for mercy.dddddddddddd---4:25 a.m.A former Vanderbilt football player is slated to be sentenced in the rape of an unconscious student.Brandon Vandenburgs sentencing will take place Friday.Under state law, Vandenburg faces 15 to 25 years in prison. He has been in jail since a jury convicted him in June. He was also added to the state sex offender registry.The 23-year-old was found guilty on five counts of aggravated rape, two counts of aggravated sexual battery and unlawful photography.Prosecutors said in 2013 that Vandenburg carried the woman into his dorm room, passed out condoms and took video as his teammates raped her.Cory Batey, Vandenburgs former teammate, received a 15-year sentence for his role in the rape.Charges against two other former teammates are pending. ' ' '