Olympics: Bolt saunters into history in 9.69 sec

'We've never seen anything like that before,' was the verdict of the great Olympian Michael Johnson after a breathtaking 100 metres final. Usain Bolt was so far ahead of the rest he had time to slow down and smile for the cameras before crossing the line in a world record time of 9.69seconds, beating by three-hundredths of a second the mark he had set 11 weeks ago. He looks unbeatable.

The rest were nowhere. A fifth of a second behind – a long, long way in sprinting – was Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago. With Tyson Gay having failed to make the final, the best American was Walter Dix, who took bronze in 9.91sec. Asafa Powell and Michael Frater, Bolt’s Jamaican compatriots, were fifth and sixth respectively, a distance behind the unbelievable Bolt.

This event is top of the bill, for that reason it is also the race most likely to disgrace the sport. If the fastest man in the world is a cheat who cares about, or for, the rest? The 100 metres is the diva event. It makes or breaks the show.

Recently, Games have been broken. Of the previous four winners Justin Gatlin and Linford Christie subsequently failed drugs tests. This meant that, inevitably, some would have been looking at yesterday’s encounter with suspicion. The world record holder, Bolt, former world record holder Powell and world champion Gay are the three fastest men of all time and, uniquely, they were on collision course.

There was speedy talk of people needing to go as low as 9.6 in order to win it, which was tantalising, except 20 years ago Ben Johnson had gone as low as 9.7, running quicker than anyone – until yesterday – had managed in an Olympics since. Look what happened to him.

In the semi-finals Bolt was slowly away, 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 Dix in second, a margin he would more than double in the final. Even then Bolt looked sensational, unbeatable, scarcely credible. Imagine what he might achieve if he broke into a trot.

His path was eased when Gay, suffering from injury, did not even break 10 seconds and missed a place in the final, which went instead to his compatriot Darvis Patton. Powell won his semi-final easily in 9.91 and the final of the 100 metres had become a Jamaican stand-off. They even had a third string to their bow in Frater, who along with two Trinidadians, two Americans and the man from Netherlands Antilles completed the field. Six from the Caribbean, two from the United States.

As the competitors appeared for the final, hundreds of cameras flashed round the stadium to create a twinkling star effect. The backdrop was near perfect, the stadium being the greatest in modern Olympics, in a Games that 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 where 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! Before anyone, least of all Bolt, could breathe, he had streaked away to win. Astonishingly, the first man to break 9.7 seconds eased up towards the end. Like a jockey astride a wonder-horse, he nearly even snuck a quick look over his shoulder in the last five metres. ‘I could see him slowing down ahead as I was still pumping away,’ said Thompson. If the semi-final was scarcely credible, this was even less so. Bolt, having produced the most electric 100 metres performance for 20 years, contented himself with smiting his left breast and then dancing around the stadium.

‘It was expected,’ said the Jamaican team doctor, Herb Elliott. ‘I don’t know how fast he can go; his coach doesn’t know how fast he can go; he doesn’t know how fast he can go.’ He went on to say that Bolt had been tested half-a-dozen times in Beijing. It was an historic night for Jamaica, who have long aspired to win the diva event. In 1952, Herb McKenlay lost the closest 100 metres in history, now Bolt had won the easiest. For a country of two-and-a-half million they have undoubtedly produced a disproportionate number of top-quality sprinters. Yet this was the first time their efforts had been rewarded with 100 metres gold.

Asked why he slowed down, Bolt said: ‘I wasn’t interested in the world record. I didn’t even know I had it until after the victory lap. This medal means a lot to my country, and to me.’ Explaining the archer sign, he said: ‘I just like to have fun. I like dancing.’ Away from the opposition.

Far from a breakfast of champions, Bolt had given the meal a miss and had nuggets for lunch, rested, and then had nuggets for tea. It was a nugget diet that had led to a golden performance.

The history, however, casts its shadow. Johnson’s downfall was tragic; if anything were to be awry with Bolt it would be farcical.