NAN-Usain Bolt, who set the track world on fire four years ago with a dominant performance in Beijing, has won the 100m race of the London Olympic Games on Sunday.
The Jamaican world record holder and defending Olympic champion, exploded down the track at London’s Olympic Stadium to win with the time of 9.63 seconds.
The time broke his Olympic record set in Beijing (9.69) and was just .05 off the world record of 9.58 he set in 2009.
During introductions, Bolt made a series of hand gestures, then smiled. Yohan Blake, Bolt’s training partner and world champion from last year, was second in 9.75 seconds.
Team USA’s Justin Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic champion who served a four-year doping suspension ending in 2010, earned the bronze with a time of 9.79.
Tyson Gay of the USA was fourth (9.80) and Ryan Bailey of the USA was fifth (9.88). And once again Jamaica gets the better of the USA in the sprint rivalry. On Saturday night, in the women’s 100, Jamaica won gold and bronze and the US got silver.
In Beijing, Bolt ran three races and set three world records — 9.69 in the 100, 19.30 in the 200, plus a third world record on the Jamaican winning 4×100 relay. The next year, at the 2009 world championships in Berlin, he lowered those marks to 9.58 in the 100 and 19.19 in the 200. And there those records have remained.