Lightning-fast Bolt wins Olympic 100m

[WUNFASTEG6]

BEIJING - Track and field needs a new hero.

It got one Saturday night who can fly.

In the most outrageous display of speed to ever burn across the Olympic Games, Usain Bolt of Jamaica rocketed to gold in winning the men's 100m dash in 9.69 seconds -- not only a new world record but the first time in the history of human beings a man has run the distance under 9.7 seconds without a significant tailwind.

Incredibly, Bolt, 21, could have gone faster.

With a full seven strides to go, he dropped his arms and let them fall outstretched to his sides, appearing almost to run sideways as he played to the sold-out crowd of 91,000 at the Bird's Nest. Just before the finish line, he started high-stepping and, for good measure, executed a chest-thump.

All that, and still -- 9.69 seconds. Bolt simply ran away from the rest of the best of the world.

"I was just saying I'm No. 1," Bolt said later. "This is what I came out here to do, and I made it."

Asked how much faster he could go if the display hadn't commenced with those seven strides remaining, Bolt responded, "I'm not even worried about that right now. I'm Olympic champion."

[Black Trunk]

Big Up Bolt