Usain Bolt Takes Olympic Glory With New 100m World Record

It is top of the bill and yet it is also the event must likely to disgrace the sport. If the fastest man in the world is a cheat who cares about, or for, the rest.

The recent record does little to allay suspicion. In the last 20 years only Donovan Bailey has bettered the time of the previous Olympic winner and not been done for drugs. As for the others, the faster they have gone, the less impressed people have been.

All of which meant that today's renewal was suspect before it began. Suspicions only being intensified by the times which the favorites had been recording. World record holder Usain Bolt, former world record holder Asafa Powell and world champion Tyson Gay are the three fastest men of all time. They were on course to meet for the first time.

There was heady talk of people needing to go as low as 9.6 in order to win it, which was tantalizing, except twenty years ago Ben Johnson had gone as low as 9.7 and run quicker than anyone has managed in an Olympics since, and look what happened to him. The shadow of Lewis, Christie and Johnson lay over Bolt, Powell and Gay.

In the semi-finals Bolt was slowly away, if, for him, relatively quickly, and slow at the finish and still won in 9.85, exactly the time the now banned Justin Gatlin had run to win in Athens. He was a tenth of a second ahead of college Champion Walter Dix in second. He looked sensational, unbeatable, scarcely credible. Imagine what he might achieve if he broke into a trot.

His path was eased when Tyson Gay, despite a quickish start, didn't even break 10 seconds and missed out on a place in the final to compatriot Darvis Patton by two hundredths of a second. And then there were two. The final of the 100 metres had become a Jamaican stand-off.

They even had a third string to their bow in Michael Frater who along with two Trinidadians, two Americans and the man from Netherlands Dutch Antilles completed the field.

As the competitors appeared hundreds of cameras flashed round the stadium to create a twinkling star effect. The backdrop was near perfect, the stadium being the greatest in a Games which may be remembered as much for its architecture as its athletes.

Bolt was in lane four, high-jinking around at the start. Powell, impassive, was three lanes to his right. In between were Thompson and Dix. This, surely, would be were the medals would be contested.

The introductions to the most explosive event in all of sport were made. Bolt smiled, pointed, and gave it the archer. Powell swung from side to side as if in a trance. The drums rolled. Bolt continued jigging; Powell remained impassive.

Silence and then Bang! Bolt streaked away and won in 9.69. Astonishing. The record books are tattered. He smited his left breast before discoing round the stadium. Thompson and Dix both ran personal best to claim silver and gold. Bolt produced the most electric 100 metre performance for 20 years. He very nearly snuck a look behind like a jockey astride a wonderhorse. Now the questioning will begin.