RIO DE JANEIRO – Usain Bolt transcends adjectives. In the primal and seminal sport of sprinting, time and place speak for themselves.

What descriptions would do him justice, anyway? Fast? Insufficient. Historic? He earned that eight years ago. Iconic? That's what advertisers call outdated cars.

On Sunday night at the Olympic Stadium, Bolt won the 100 meters in 9.81 seconds. Before Bolt, no one had ever won gold medals in three consecutive Olympic 100-meter races, but then before Bolt, no one had ever thought to choreograph celebrations into a race that lasts slightly longer than a Google search.

The Jamaican beat American Justin Gatlin by eight-hundreths of a second and Canadian Andre De Grasse by a tenth. As has often been the case with Bolt, he reveled not so much in the pursuit of a record time as in the ability to mug or motion once he knew he had won. He smiled, looking relieved, then bumped his chest and eased across the finish line.

Usain Bolt's pursuit of records is like an Alfred Hitchcock murder. The suspense is not so much in the deed as in the possibility. "It was brilliant," Bolt said. "I didn't go so fast, but I'm so happy I won. I told you guys I was going to do it."

Bolt's semifinal may have been even more typical of his career than the final. He surged into the lead midway through the race, lengthened his lead by 60 meters, then coasted, looking right, then left, then smiling broadly, before coasting home in 9.86.

Usain Bolt of Jamaica defeated American rival Justin Gatlin by .08 seconds in the 100 meters for his seventh Olympic gold medal. Andre de Grasse of Canada won the bronze.

The image of Bolt smiling as his competitors strained caromed around the world's social media, Bolt's face looking like someone had photoshopped a frame of him at a comedy club onto the front of an Olympic race.

Bolt holds the world record of 9.58 seconds, set in 2009. Perhaps he could have challenged it had he pushed over the last 20 meters, but he said the quick turnaround from semifinal to final left him with little energy. "Whoever decided that," he said, "was stupid."

Having won, he celebrated with a victory lap, and by grabbing a stuffed Olympic mascot, and posing for selfies with the female medalists in the heptathlon as the music of his countryman, Bob Marley, filled the stadium.

Jamaican John Blake, who finished fourth, was asked whether Bolt is becoming bigger than Marley. "He's getting there," Blake said, calling Bolt "a true warrior of the sport."

In 2008, when Bolt won in Beijing, he ran a 9.85 in the semis before winning with a 9.69. In 2012, when he won in London, he ran a 9.87 in the semis before winning with a 9.63.

The stands at the Olympic Stadium never filled, but the chants of Bolt's name were loud, as were the jeers aimed at Gatlin. "You hear everything," Gatlin said. "There's a lot of Usain Bolt fans, a lot of Jamaican fans, but they don't know me. I work very hard and I have the respect of my fellow competitors."

Gatlin was suspended for two years in 2001 after testing positive for a substance in his ADD medication. His term was reduced to one year. He won gold in the 100 in Athens in 2004. He served a four-year ban from 2006 to 2010 after testing positive for testosterone. He won bronze in the 100 at London in 2012.

At these Olympics he was called out, in the context of any athlete who has been caught using performance-enhancing drugs, by American swimmer Lilly King. A Gatlin victory would have unleashed the hounds of doubt. Bolt's victory made the night a celebration instead of an inquisition. "We work 365 days a year to be here for nine seconds," Gatlin said.

Bolt probably takes a few days off, but he has proved he knows when to peak, and how to party.

"Somebody said I can become immortal," Bolt said. "Two more medals to go and I can sign off. Immortal."

Jim Souhan's podcast can be heard at MalePatternPodcasts.com. On Twitter: @SouhanStrib. • jsouhan@startribune.com