Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter, broke the world record as he blitzed his rivals to claim the Olympic gold medal in the 100 metres final in Beijing.
Jamaican Usain Bolt, who was calm, confident and even cocky before the race, sliced 0.03 seconds off his own world record to register a new best of 9.69. He even had the audacity to pose and celebrate before crossing the line — a sign that this incredible sprinter can surely go much faster. Oh, and his favored event, the 200 meters, is yet to come.
Bolt, 21, who nearly did not run in the event because he considers himself better at 200 metres, recorded a time of 9.69 seconds. He would surely have done a time of around 9.6 seconds if he had pushed himself all the way to the line.
“I want to say, I came here to prove I am the best. I have trained for years for this and prepared for this. I’m just happy, I came here to prove that I’m the best in the world and I did that. I came here with a plan and I executed it,” he said
Equally ecstatic silver medalist Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago ran a personal best time of 9.89 seconds, as did Walter Dix of the United States, who ran 9.91 to take bronze.
The pre-race talk of the final being a showdown between Bolt, his compatriot Asafa Powell and US world champion Tyson Gay didn’t materialize. Gay didn’t reach the finals, and a tense looking Powell was never in the hunt of the medals and finished in fifth place.
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