Jamaica’s Bolt breaks 200 mark, gets sprint double

Yes, yes another Usain post... Sorry, I'm so proud of him.. Go Usain..

Usain Bolt of Jamaica broke the world record by winning the 200 meters in 19.30 seconds Wednesday night, becoming the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to sweep the 100 and 200 gold medals at an Olympics.

Bolt is the first man ever to break the world marks in both sprints at an Olympics. Not even Lewis or Jesse Owens managed that.

Showing what he can do when he runs at full speed all the way through the finish—something he hadn’t done yet in the Beijing Games—Bolt eclipsed the old record of 19.32 seconds set by Michael Johnson in Atlanta in 1996.

Bolt was an astonishing 0.52 seconds ahead of Churandy Martina of Netherlands Antilles, who was second across the finish line but later was disqualified after a U.S team protest that he had run out of his lane. The third man across the line, Wallace Spearmon of the United States, also was disqualified for leaving his lane.

Those rulings meant Shawn Crawford of the United States, the defending Olympic champion, wound up with the silver medal, and another American, Walter Dix, ended up with the bronze medal despite being the fifth man across the finish line.

The performance marked Bolt as one of the breakthrough stars of these Summer Games, coming on the heels of his victory in the 100 Saturday night. He bettered his own world record in that race by winning in 9.69 seconds—despite slowing down over the final 20 meters to showboat.

Yahoo Sports

Read More

Usain Bolt gives Jamaica its first Olympic sprint champion

Usain Bolt won the 100 meters in a time, 9.69 seconds, that broke his own 11-week old own world record of 9.72 and could have been so much faster had he not turned the end of the race into Carnival.

His rivals still couldn't catch up. Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago ran a personal best 9.89 and was further from first than any Olympic silver medalist since 1984. Walter Dix of the United States was third in a personal best 9.91, and Churandy Martina fourth in a Netherlands Antilles record 9.93.

Asafa Powell of Jamaica, the former world record-holder, had two left feet at the big dance again, finishing fifth. Reigning world champion Tyson Gay of the United States was eliminated in the semifinals, unable to make up for time lost to a hamstring injury six weeks ago.

``In the past the United States sprinters dominated," Thompson said. ``It feels good for the Caribbean to be creating this kind of dominance, and for me to be a part of it."

Never before Saturday had there been more than three Caribbean sprinters in an Olympic men's 100 final. Never before had there been three Jamaicans or a Jamaican champion, even if émigrés Linford Christie won for Great Britain in 1992 and Donovan Bailey for Canada in 1996. Hasely Crawford of Trinidad & Tobago was the only previous Caribbean athlete to win the 100 title (1976) for his own country.

---

Yaaay, these are the Olympics I remember..

Staying up waaay past my bedtime to watch Carl Lewis, Linford Christie, Flo Jo etc with my mum.. The athletics was the only reason I used to watch the games...

Well Done Usain, I'm so proud of him... I can just imagine the celebrations going on in his hometown at the moment.. I hope it's the first of MANY gold medals in Beijing.

Read More