Crowd pleaser
In the 100m, all the athletes emerged tense for the final, except one. Bolt was so relaxed he was smiling at the camera and radiated an obvious enjoyment of the occasion. This extraordinary display of confidence made him stand out even before the race had begun.
Blown away
The 100m was eagerly anticipated in Beijing as a showdown between the world’s three outstanding sprinters: Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay. In the end there was no contest. Bolt simply blew the others away. He was so far ahead, he even waved to the crowd yet still managed to break the world record!
Flat out
For the 200m final the world held its breath. They knew Bolt was an extraordinary talent, but Michael Johnson’s 200m mark was one of the outstanding records in Olympic history. This time Bolt ran flat out for the whole distance and he won the race in a time of 19.30 seconds – two hundredths of a second quicker than Johnson’s world record.
Relay joy
Bolt rounded off a perfect Olympic Games by helping his team-mates Nesta Carter, Michael Frater and Asafa Powell (watch out; thee are four of them, one to many, take off the one that did not participate in the final) win the 4x100m relay. Usain Bolt took the third relay leg on the bend and passed the baton to Asafa Powell. Powell stormed to the finish line to claim gold for the Jamaican team in a new world record time.