Fittingly, it was the weekend that celebrated 50 years of Jamaican independence. Here were just 9.63 blistering seconds of it. At the end of the shortest Olympic race in history, two men were quite noticeably independent and away from the rest of the field. There was daylight between Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, but clear air again between Blake and the chasing pack.
The Jamaicans — friends, training partners at the Racers Club in Kingston, now the fiercest rivals on the track — were out on their own. When it came down to it, however, one Jamaican was simply more independent than the other.
Bolt did it again. He did it as he said he would. As predicted, this was his time. Bolt became the first athlete this century to retain his Olympic 100 metres title, the first since Carl Lewis in 1988. Nobody stays the fastest man in the world for long and there were many who thought Bolt would repeat the brief flickering of many past champions. They were wrong, so very wrong.
Having given the field, even the brilliant Blake, a head start, he then accelerated. It was as if Batman had flicked the switch on the Batmobile, the one that sends the machine into warp speed. We almost expected to see an ignition of white-hot flame at Bolt’s tail.
And that is what Bolt is, in essence. A latter-day superhero. He draped the Jamaican flag around his shoulders like a Caped Crusader, too, and mimed firing his arrow as if an Olympian of old. He is old, Bolt, yet so very new.
His talent is one of the purest skills of all: the ability to run faster than any other man. But his manner is modern. He knows his place in sport’s galaxy, his status, and what it represents. At the pinnacle stands the heavyweight boxing champion and the world’s fastest man; except Bolt has more personality in his discarded woolly hat than the Klitschko brothers have in a lifetime of perfect punishing victories. If Bolt were a boxer, even Muhammad Ali’s Greatest status might have been under threat.
He is charismatic, mesmerising. Once he entered the track nobody could take their eyes from him; and then when he started running, blink, and he was gone.
At the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton, Bolt as Batman was further emphasised. Jamaica Day celebrations in the area had segued jubilantly into the main event of the night. On the big screen, The Dark Knight Rises gave way to Bolt and a free showing of the BBC Olympics coverage played to an audience comprising the nearest thing a Jamaican athlete could get to a partisan crowd, so far from his island.
Not that he could have heard them as he sped into history. Not that any athlete could hear much above the cacophony of the Olympic Stadium. After Britain’s Super Saturday, this was tagged Supersonic Sunday, as if any further showbiz hype was required. The fastest men in the world know they are the players of the Olympic meeting without further encouragement. They preen, they strut, they perform for the cameras, and that is just in the heats.
By the time of the main event, Bolt was in his element. He took off his black and gold headwear and walked casually to the start line, a wink here, a cocky grin there, utterly assured after all the uncertainty. His semi-final heat time was already a statement of intent. Having sped past the field to finish a comfortable first, he pointed a finger to the sky. No 1, still.
Catch me if you can. It was a portent. He walked through the media interview area tight-lipped, but the high-fives for loitering journalists spoke as eloquently as any prediction.
When Bolt’s name was announced, he went through his showman’s routine. He shut his eyes, pretended to be deeply focused, then lifted his head up with a broad grin and made a running gesture with his fingers, put them to his forehead and then away in a salute.
The crowd loved it. Then again, they loved Boris Johnson, too, when his face came up on the big screen. Pay 750 quid for tickets and you probably need to love everything to get your money’s worth.
At the semi-final Bolt had thrown in a little shadow boxing, probably as a nod to his great friend Lennox Lewis. Second time around, no doubt keen to vary his repertoire, he mimed DJ moves.
It is easy to root for Bolt, the way it was Ali, the way it is any man who combines supreme athleticism with charm and personality. Bolt has such charisma. Even operating from a rare position of vulnerability, his demeanour suggested he was the man to beat. So it proved.
The moment the pistol sounded, all doubts about his fitness evaporated. Slow out of the blocks, as he would be at 6ft 5in from a crouching position, it was instantly the Bolt of old, motoring as if slung from a catapult, tearing up the super-fast surface as if it would curl up beneath his feet as he went. Jamaica, Kingston, Stratford, Brixton, he did them all proud, it was as if the world is spun by his spikes.
And Bolt needed to be at his best for this, have no doubt. From third-placed Justin Gatlin to Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago in seventh, every runner was the fastest for his position in an Olympic final.
If Bolt had been 95 per cent fit as was once claimed, he would not have been able to live with many of them, let alone the noble Blake. There was no showboating on the line this time. Blake would have gobbled him up. In the circumstances, with all his fitness worries and that false start at the World Championships to weigh him down, it was an astonishing run.
So what next? Bolt is still just 25 and no man has ever won the 100m title three times. Unlike swimming, sprinting is not exactly a young man’s game. Linford Christie won gold in Barcelona at the age of 32, so there is still time. Bolt could set a record in Olympic sprinting that would be hard to beat; as if he has not done that already.
Short term, there is the small matter of the 200m here on Thursday. No one has ever retained that title. So Bolt is on course for a remarkable double later this week: always providing he can be kept clear of that party at the Ritzy.
The Olympic 100m champions:
2012 London - Usain Bolt (Jamaica) 9.63
2008 Beijing - Usain Bolt (Jamaica) 9.69
2004 Athens - Justin Gatlin (USA) 9.85
2000 Sydney - Maurice Greene (USA) 9.87
1996 Atlanta - Donovan Bailey (CAN) 9.84
1992 Barcelona - Linford Christie (GBR) 9.96
1988 Seoul - Carl Lewis (USA) * Ben Johnson (CAN) won in 9.79 but was later disqualified.
1984 Los Angeles - Carl Lewis (USA) 9.99
1980 Moscow - Alan Wells (GBR) 10.25
1976 Montreal - Hasely Crawford (TRI) 10.06
1972 Munich - Valeriy Borzov (SOV) 10.14
1968 Mexico City - Jim Hines (USA) 9.95
1964 Tokyo - Bob Hayes (USA) 10.0
1960 Rome - Armin Hary (GER) 10.2
1956 Melbourne - Bobby Morrow (USA) 10.62
1952 Helsinki - Lindy Remigino (USA) 10.79
1948 London - Harrison Dillard (USA) 10.3
1936 Berlin - Jesse Owens (USA) 10.3
By MARTIN SAMUEL
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