Usain Bolt didn’t just prove he was the fastest sprinter at the Beijing Games. He proved he’s the fastest of all-time on his sport’s biggest stage.
The Jamaican phenom posted his second dominating win on Wednesday, finishing the 200-meter race in 19.30 seconds to break Michael Johnson’s 12-year-old world record. Bolt is the first man to break the world record in the 100 and 200 at the same Olympics and the first to win both events since Carl Lewis in 1984.
That Bolt did it was one thing — how he did it was even more memorable. He finished ahead of Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles by .52 seconds — about four body lengths — the largest margin of victory in an Olympic 200 since the first race in 1900. His victory in the 100, where he set a world record in 9.69, could have been even greater if Bolt didn’t ease up over the final 10-plus meters to celebrate his clear victory.
The last man to hold both world records simultaneously was Jamaican Donald Quarrie in the 1970s.
Now, Quarrie and everyone else — Lewis, Jesse Owens, any of the other six men to complete an Olympic 100-200 double — takes a back seat.
Nobody other than Johnson had ever run a 200 in under 19.6 and nobody had broken 9.7 in the 100 before Beijing.
Now, Bolt has done both.
“Incredible,” Johnson, now the former record-holder, said after the race. “He got an incredible start. Guys of [6-foot-5] should not be able to start like that. It’s that long, massive stride. He’s eating up so much more track than others. He came in focused, knowing he would likely win the gold and he’s got the record.”
The victory was even sweater for Bolt, as it came on the eve of his 22nd birthday. A version of “Happy Birthday” played over the public-address system as he took off his gold shoes and wrapped the Jamaican flag around his shoulders like a scarf following the win. Racing’s young star isn’t going anywhere — unless he’s leading the way.
“You’re back there giving it everything you’ve got — it’s brutal,” said Kim Collins, the 2003 world champ who finished seventh. “He’s doing it and making it look so simple. Michael Johnson did it, and it didn’t looked that easy.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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