Bolt blazes to sprint double

Usain Bolt of Jamaica sprints ahead of Brian Dzingai (L) of Zimbabwe and Shawn Crawford (R) of the U.S. on his win to winning the men's 200m final of the athletics competition in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on Wednesday. Bolt set a new world record with a timing of 19.30 seconds. Photo/REUTERS

What you need to know:

  • Wallace Spearmon was disqualified for running out of his lane
  • Bolt powered down the straight to win by at least five metres

BEIJING

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt blazed to victory in the 200 metres final on Wednesday in a world record 19.30 seconds to secure the first men’s Olympic sprint double since 1984.

In a run no less sensational than his world record performance in the 100m final last Saturday, the 21-year-old destroyed the field to clinch his first major title in his specialist event.

Churandy Martina of Netherlands Antilles took silver in 19.82 and bronze went to defending champion Shawn Crawford of the US in 19.96 after his compatriot Wallace Spearmon was disqualified for running out of his lane.

American Carl Lewis was the last man to win both sprints at the same Games in Los Angeles and Bolt became just the ninth athlete to achieve the feat. The previous world record was 19.32 set by Michael Johnson of the U.S. in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics final.

Bolt started well again to hit the front before he came off the bend and he powered down the straight to win by at least five metres.

The 6ft 5in (1.96m) former world junior champion owned the best time of this year (19.67) and finished second behind American Tyson Gay at the 2007 world championships in Osaka.

When an injury at the U.S. trials deprived Gay of the chance to run the 200m in Beijing, Bolt immediately became a strong favourite for the event.

Bolt’s coach Glen Mills had always wanted him to emulate Johnson by doubling up in the 200 and 400 but he had never enjoyed the tougher training for the one-lap event.

The pair reached an agreement last year that if he broke the Jamaican 200m record of 1976 Olympic champion Don Quarrie, he would be allowed to try the 100 and the reggae-loving Bolt duly delivered.

The impressive 10.03 seconds he ran in his first outing in the 100 in 2007 was just a prelude to his remarkable assault on the event in 2008 and he has now set new world marks.