Mission accomplished: Usain Bolt enjoys his Olympic swansong as he says he has done all he can do

Usain Bolt literally danced in to his post-race press conference, his tunes blaring.

Why not? It was his last chance to speak to a packed room hanging on his every word after having created Olympics history – an experience he’s got used to over the last eight years.

Bolt, 30 on Sunday, insists Rio was his last Games. He bows out with nine gold medals, having sealed the ‘triple-triple’ of 100, 200 and 4x100-metre relay wins at three consecutive Olympics.

WATCH: golden moments on Day 14 at the Rio Olympics

He raised a three-finger sign in acknowledgement as the MC announced his unprecedented feat. There were 11 other men on the dais – his three teammates, silver medallists Japan and bronze medallists Canada – but for all the attention they got at the 1am conference, they might as well have skipped it for an early night.

“Nothing is impossible,” he said, reflecting on his medal haul. “I never set limits for myself, I’ve always wanted to push the barriers and that’s what I did. I pushed the barriers and accomplished what I wanted to do. There’s nothing else I can do, just push on and enjoy what I can do.”

The Olympics and athletics, so long swimming in a cesspool of corruption and doping, now has to do without the man who at regular intervals redeems it almost single-handedly. He may race in the next World Championships, but Tokyo 2020 and the quadruple-triple does not seem to be on the agenda. He said he leaves the sport in good shape, saying: “The only way is up now, the IAAF and Wada are doing a job cleaning things up ... we have to put the bad times behind us and move on.”