Posted by From Ben Memuletiwon, Beijing on
Contrary to the conventional wisdom that thunder never strikes twice on the same spot, the city of Beijing saw thunder strike twice on the same tracks yesterday.
Contrary to the conventional wisdom that thunder never strikes twice on the same spot, the city of Beijing saw thunder strike twice on the same tracks yesterday. And it came in the form of a Jamaican human machine, Usain Bolt.Bare three days after the 21-year-old Jamaican sprinter smashed the world 100 metres record for men, he again sent the 200 metres records to the cleaners. By so doing, Bold achieved the seemingly impossible, by breaking Michael Johnson's 'unbreakable' 12-year 200m world record with a sensational 19.30 seconds to win the Olympic gold medal.
In so doing, Bolt has not only become the first man to achieve the Olympic double since Carl Lewis in 1984, but has also become the first man to beak the world record in both races.
It was astonishing performance as he ran away from the field and reduced it to a middle distance race as he focused on breaking Johson's record that has stood since the 1996 Olympics.
Running in lane five, Bolt poured around the bend to confound Johnson who suggested that he might lose the record chance around the crown.
If anything, he then accelerated into the straight and ran as hard as he ever done. It was stunning, and the celebrations meant that the start of the women 400m hurdles had to be delayed.
Johnson up in the stands was seen smiling and giving Bolt the thumbs up.
Martina Churandy finished second and Wallace Spearmon finished third but was disqualified, leaving bronze for Shawn Crawford, the champion in Athens.
The weather was perfect - hot humid but with no wind - and the massive 91,000 crowd was expectant after Bolt's astonishing world record of 9.69secs in the 100m final on Saturday night, when he won despite easing down in the final 20 metres and playing to the crowd.
Bolt, 22 tomorrow, was born to run the 200m, indeed until this season it is the only event he has ever run seriously, having competed in the 100 metres on just five occasions before he first broke the world record in New York in May.
He first stunned the world in the 200m as a gangly 15-year-old schoolboy when he won the World Junior (U19) Championships in Kingston Jamaica in 20.61secs. He remains the youngest ever athlete to win a junior title in the any event.
By 2004, he had advanced the World junior record to 19.93secs and before this race he ranked fifth on the all-time senior list with a 19.67 he ran in Athens earlier this year.
His only medal at senior level, however, was a silver in last year's World Championships in Osaka.
During the qualifying rounds and semi-final he had been so imperious that nobody expected anyone within the field to mount a serious challenge despite the fact that Walter Dix recorded a 19.69 in Florida last year, Wallace Spearmon has a 19.65 to his name two years ago and Crawford is the reigning Olympic champion.
Earlier, fellow Jamaican and reigning champion Veronica Campbell Brown had won her 200m semi-final from compatriot Kerron Stewart in a brisk 22.19secs, while Allyson Felix looked close to her best in winning the second semi-final in 22.33secs. Great Britain's Emily Freeman finished sixth behind Felix in 22.83 seconds.