The Guardian Article –
The world had wondered: openly, loudly, some may even say rudely, ifUsain Bolt was ready. There were rumours of injury, speculation over his commitment to training, worries over his wavering form, suggestions that the triple world record holder might even be psychologically damaged – from last year’s false start in the world championships final, from the car crash in June, from his defeat at the hands of his training partner Yohan Blake in Kingston, Jamaica, just five weeks ago. But when that gun went in the 100m final Bolt delivered one almighty response to anyone who had dared to question him, dared to dream of beating him.
Crossing the line in an Olympic record of 9.63sec, the 25-year-old became the first man to defend an Olympic sprint title since Carl Lewis in 1988. Legend? Job done. What did Bolt have to say to the doubters? “I have nothing to say,” said the two-times Olympic champion. “I said it on the track. All they can do is talk. I said when it comes to the championships it’s all about me.” Did he ever doubt his own ability? “I was slightly worried about my start, so I sat in the blocks a bit, but I executed and that was the key. My coach said, ‘Stop worrying about your start, your best race is at the end.'”
The Jamaican had to work hard for a victory in which a record seven out of eight men ran under 10 seconds but once Bolt had made up the deficit of his awkward start and drawn level alongside the four fastest men in the field it was easy for him to pull away. At 50 metres Bolt was already going away, just as his compatriot Asafa Powell dropped back, hit by injury. From thereon in the win, although tight, never looked in doubt.
Yohan Blake, the 21-year-old world champion who had twice inflicted defeat on Bolt in recent weeks, was left fighting the two Americans alongside him to take silver. He needed to equal his personal best of 9.75 to do it. On the line Justin Gatlin timed his dip perfectly to snatch bronze from his team-mate Tyson Gay in 9.79 – a miraculous return to the sport for the 2004 Olympic champion who served a four-year suspension after testing positive for a banned substance in 2006. At the finish both Powell, the former world record holder who has never won a global title, and Gay, the second fastest man in history who has never won an Olympic medal, appeared devastated.
Bolt’s victory was emphatic and, as the evening had progressed, it had looked ever more likely. In those last few minutes on the warm-up track Bolt and Blake provided an image reminiscent of Bolt’s demeanour before his 100m victory in Beijing four years ago.
Joking about together, as though back on the training ground at their Kingston track, they were as relaxed as anyone can be ahead of such a momentous event. Playful as ever, Bolt had toyed with the TV camera that spied on them, leaping left and then right, in and out of vision with seemingly boundless energy as though the fact that he was about to attempt to defend the first of his Olympic titles was not even on his mind. In Beijing, so the story goes, he had been the same, rolling about on the floor, play-fighting with his agent.
Earlier in the evening, in the semi- finals, Bolt had already begun to turn on the speed. Crossing the line in 9.87, the third fastest semi-finalist, Bolt wagged his finger as if to say: did you doubt me? Now you know the answer. Like a knife through butter, Bolt had run easy, languid, assured, as soon as he turned on the accelerators the competition, including Britain’s Dwain Chambers, fell away unable even to hang on to his coat tails. Of all the semi-finalists, it was Bolt who looked the most comfortable. That was the giveaway. There lay the hint of what was to come. Not the time as such but the manner in which he won. Glancing right and left before leisurely crossing the line, Bolt was back in his formidable stride.
The performance lay in sharp contrast to his first-round performance on Saturday morning that had kept onlookers guessing. The Jamaican had run the slowest winning time of all seven heats, only 10.09. The Americans blasted their way out of the blocks and powering to record speeds – first Gatlin in 9.97, and then 23-year-old Ryan Bailey in 9.88. Set against that background one could not help wondering if Bolt might be missing a trick. Some accused him of playing a poker game; others simply believed that he was not up to the job. Either way there was reasonable doubt, and a final medal prediction looked difficult to call.
With Jamaica celebrating 50 years of independence, the national anthem already having rung out around the stadium during the medal ceremony for Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s 100m victory, it was a Jamaica sprint double.
Wrapped in the green, black and gold of the Jamaican flag, Bolt and Blake performed their victory lap, the older athlete paying tribute to the younger man. “He works harder than me,” Bolt said of the youngster known as “The Beast”. “He will do better next time because he was a little bit stressed this time.” Bolt’s legacy may prove to be far more than simply securing his own status as a legend. He may well have secured a golden future for generations of Jamaican sprinters.
