Lightning Bolt set to strike twice

Source: China Daily | 08-20-2008 10:43

Jamaica's Usain Bolt has set himself up for the first Olympic sprint double since American Carl Lewis 24 years ago after scorching to the 100m title in world record-breaking style.

Bolt set the 91,000-capacity National Stadium alight on Saturday when he broke his own record in the shorter sprint in 9.69sec.

As he side-stepped his way into the record books in the Bird's Nest Saturday, he rewrote the limits of human capability. A time of 9.69sec barely told the whole story. After all, it is only 0.03 off his old mark, but it was the extravagant Hollywood manner he achieved it with. Had he not slowed up in the final 10m, he could have gone under 9.60 seconds.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt celebrates after winning the men's 200m  semi-final 2 yesterday. He won ahead of US athletes Shawn  Crawford and Wallace Spearmon.

The 1.96m giant, who turns 22 on Thursday, reduced the seven other fastest men in the world to extras in a dance routine as he turned sideways on to the stands and pranced across the line. The question now being asked is what the 21-year-old Jamaican can do to the record in the 200m, an event that he sees as his main discipline, when he races for the gold tonight.