With Flash, Bolt Runs Record 9.69 In the 100

BEIJING, Aug. 16 -- From the beginning, this was a serious affair only to everyone else. On the day Usain Bolt and the two other fastest men in history were scheduled to meet in the widely anticipated Olympic 100-meter final, Bolt rolled out of bed an hour before noon and skipped breakfast.

He ordered chicken nuggets for lunch, napped three hours and then, before heading out to the National Stadium on Saturday to try to prove himself the world's fastest man, snacked on more nuggets.

The tone of the day never changed, not as Bolt stood at the start of the long-awaited race, shimmying and grooving to the music that blared across the stadium loudspeakers, or as he took off down the track with 91,000 pairs of eyes and hundreds of cameras trained on him -- and his untied shoelace. With 20 meters left, Bolt threw out his arms, urging on the crowd. He pounded his chest -- and the word "Jamaica" on his track singlet -- with his right fist.

And only then did he cruise across the finish line in 9.69 seconds. He won the gold medal and lowered his world record by .03 of a second while jogging over the line. The historic showdown had dissolved into a show.

"I wasn't worried about running fast," Bolt said. "I was worried about being a champion."

American Tyson Gay, the world champion who figured to challenge Bolt, could not rebound from a six-week-old hamstring injury and didn't even qualify for the final, finishing fifth in his semifinal heat. Former world record holder Asafa Powell, who has run more times under 9.80 seconds than anyone, looked demoralized by Bolt's dominance. He finished fifth in 9.95.

The men who stayed closest to Bolt were Trinidad and Tobago's Richard Thompson, who crossed the line in 9.89, and American Walter Dix, a recent Florida State graduate (9.91).

"He's in a league of his own," said American Darvis Patton, who finished eighth in 10.03. "How do you deal with [Michael] Jordan? How do you deal with LeBron [James]? . . . He's just having fun right now."

Oh, he did have fun. He ran through the finish and kept going, ripping his shirt up and shouting. By the time Dix had secured a U.S. flag from a fan to celebrate his bronze medal near the finish line, Bolt already was halfway around the Bird's Nest embracing people he knew -- and plenty he didn't -- in the stands. He had hugs for everybody, then posed and danced some more.

Could he have run faster? Jamaica's Michael Frater, who was sixth in 9.97, speculated -- only partly in jest -- that Bolt could have hit 9.5 if only he hadn't slowed to celebrate. Asked why he didn't try to lower the record further, Bolt didn't hesitate.

"I didn't come here to run a world record," he said. "I was already the world record holder. I just came here to win."

Herb Elliott, a Jamaican member of the medical and anti-doping commission for the world track federation (IAAF), has known Bolt since he emerged in the sport as a teenager after being urged to take up running by his cricket coach. Bolt became the youngest world junior champion when he won the 200-meters title at 15.