Source: Xinhua
08-17-2008 07:18
Special Report: 2008 Beijing Olympic GamesBEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Earth held its breath as Usain Bolt was squatting on the blocks, before torrential yells stunned the 91,000-spectator Bird's Nest.
Piercing the windless air from the start to the finish, "lightning" Bolt became the world's fastest man, clocking an unprecedented 9.69 seconds, a new world record for men's 100-meter sprint, at the Beijing Olympic Games.
The yellow and green track jersey-clad Jamaican didn't even bother to mobilize his full strength in final strides towards the tape, showily slamming his right palm on the chest.
With a lackluster reaction time of 0.165 second, or the second slowest among all the finalists, his unfurling of the 1.96m-figure was perfect, the acceleration was superb, and the dash was unbeatable.
The brief praying of the devout Christian as he usually does before any important dashes obviously paid off.
Bathing the deafening voice in the stadium, the yellow lightning unleashed his turbo gear well beyond the 100m combat. The engine was powerful enough to reach its highest speed for 120 meters, or even 150 meters.
Nobody came closer to the leader. Not Asafa Powell, who has done the world's most sub-9.80s runs (five times). Not Tyson Gay, the world champion who did not get the chance to line up with Bolt after a disqualifying semifinal run.
After wearing the Jamaican national flag to tour the Olympic venue, after indulging himself in kissing the pair of golden track shoes, Bolt said, "I came here to prove I'm the best. I could even be 9.60."
Bolt's teammate and arch rival Asafa Powell, who tonight replayed his fate of the fifth place four years ago at the Athens Olympic Games, said, "Usain is the greatest of the best, definitely untouchable. He's explosive. He's spectacular."
Since the second-round heats of the men's 100m sprint, the gifted runner has led all the way into the finals, the fastest of its kind in all Olympic Games with six out of eight finalists blistering sub-10 seconds into the finals.
