Lightning Bolt wins 100-meter gold in world record

Sunday 17th August, 06:27 AM JST

BEIJING —

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt set a world record of 9.69 seconds in winning the men’s 100-meter gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games on Saturday. The 21-year-old Bolt became the first athlete to run under 9.70 seconds, breaking the record he set in May by 0.03. He is the first Jamaican to win the 100 meters in Olympic history.

The race at Nation Stadium saw a men’s 100-meter world record broken in an Olympic final for the first time since American sprinter Donovan Bailey won in 9.84 at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago won the silver in 9.89 and Walter Dix of the United States the bronze in 9.91. Former world record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica was fifth in 9.95.
Earlier on Saturday, Naoki Tsukahara came up short in his bid to become the first Japanese finalist in the Olympic showcase event, finishing seventh in his semifinal

Kyodo

15 Comments

rajakumar at 06:51 AM JST - 17th August

9.69 seconds magic runner Usain Bolt, is the king of track.

Both Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt(Jamaica) will bring lot of ticket sales/sport viewers if they perform.
USNinJapan2 at 09:12 AM JST - 17th August

I think Bolt's run (and world record) was incredible, but I just don't understand why he stopped running before he got to the finish line and was coasting and kind of showboating for the last part of the race? I realize that he knew he was going to win long before he crossed the finish line, but I just can't help thinking that this new world record could have been even a faster time had Bolt not eased off like he did...
flammenwerfer at 09:12 AM JST - 17th August

That was insane, what an incredible race! I saw a video online of the great American sprinter watching the event live while reporting and he was mouth wide open in shock saying "Oh my god". Bolt surged past everyone so effortlessly and actually eased up and looked around at about 90m and put out his hands to say where is everyone else? he would have run 9.64 - 9.65 had he not eased up.

That was the second most amazing race I have ever seen. The guy who was shocked it the commentary booth: Johnson, ran the most phenomenal race ever in the Atlanta Olympics 200m, but that was pretty close.

I cant wait for the JT readers to jump on the thread and call him "arrogant" for the way he celebrated and danced around the track.
yokohamabacon at 10:15 AM JST - 17th August

Correction to the story: Donovan Bailey is Canadian, NOT American.
sappquest at 10:47 AM JST - 17th August

Correction to the story: Donovan Bailey is Canadian, NOT American.

Bailey is actually of jamaican heritage but was running for Canada.

What is also amazing about Bolt's run is that there was a wind of 0.00m/s. Many people are saying he shouldn't have stopped pushing it at the end but remember he also has 200m heats starting on Monday. He is obviously a "people's" runner and he is entitled to show that he enjoys what he does.
smithinjapan at 11:41 AM JST - 17th August

yokohamabacon: "Correction to the story: Donovan Bailey is Canadian, NOT American."

No kidding... a pretty stupid oversight on the part of whomever wrote the story, and a good show of bias towards whom the world usually thinks dominates this sport.

Anyway, I caught the very end of it and was happy to see this guy win. Amazing!
Pukey2 at 03:15 PM JST - 17th August

Yep, I agree. Can you imagine what the time would have been had he continue running at full speed and not slowed down to admire the view? This is another athlete who's in a league of his own.
rajakumar at 05:38 PM JST - 17th August

Bolt has great rich future ahead in promotion of athletics sports and (100-200 meters) running.
pathat at 02:28 AM JST - 18th August

It is hard for me to understand why so many people are excited about Usain Bolt. We have seen so many American men and women sprinters who won medals in the World Championships and Olympics busted for PEDs time again in recent years, and now we suddenly have the Jamaican men and women running so much faster than everyone else. It is just a matter of time until they get caught, too.
Wolfpack at 05:29 AM JST - 18th August

I think that whenever someone decimates his competition like Bolt did in that race, the question of doping is going to come up. I don't particularly like Bolt because he is a show-off but I hope he isn't doping. He broke the world record and he was decelerating over the last ten meters of the race. If he is doping, the truth will likely come out eventually. I remember Marion Jones at the Sydney Olympics similarly annihilating her competitors by a good five meters at the end of her sprint race and it seemed a bit fishy to me.
chibaman at 09:19 PM JST - 18th August

I'm also raising my eyebrow with suspicion but I hope he's clean. He made the 100m look like a joke, and now he's doing the same in the 200m heats. How can it be such a walk in the park against the best in the world, for whom there is not much difference between them. He is 196cm tall, maybe that helps. Love how he checked his (almost non-existent) hair on the big screen.
flammenwerfer at 10:27 PM JST - 18th August

I remember Marion Jones at the Sydney Olympics similarly annihilating her competitors by a good five meters at the end of her sprint race and it seemed a bit fishy to me.

actually if you are old enough you might remember a freakishly muscular woman who suddenly found a amazing speed in here late 20's and blitzed the field by even bigger margins and set world records no one has even remotely approached since and then she died in her 40's:Florence Griffith Joiner. Now she was fishy. Bolt is still very young and has been improving steadily, he hasnt suddenly found a vein of form after a mediocre early career, he doesn't have the freakish look of The East German sprinters of the 70's and 80's or of Flo-jo or Ben Johnson. He looks like a one in a billion natural freak pretty much like Phelps. I sincerely hope he is clean, my gut instinct says he is a natural freak.
ExPrinceska at 10:45 PM JST - 18th August

how funny, you have suspicion that Bolt have used doping and nobody suspects Phelps? I think ALL great athletes use some performance enhancements, it is not possible without this to do great sport. I think it should be allowed because anyway everybody uses it.
Carlly at 10:44 AM JST - 19th August

How quick we are to start pointing fingers at people, have we forgotten that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, I am surprised that persons can think that these athletes are on drugs,by now we should be able to identify them if the report that we read that they are tested regularly, and as one person said before now that Bolt has won the Olympic gold, broken the olympic and world record and is on drugs, then one can only assume that Michael Phelps who has won a recorded eight medals is also on drugs too.
flammenwerfer at 11:33 PM JST - 20th August

how about tonight?! no early celebrating, running hard the whole way and breaks the 200m world record - the one that many thought would last for a very long time. The man has some serious wheels!