Bolt: 'Tonight I blew the world's mind'

A SPRINT double was all too predictable. To make the Olympics absolutely special, Usain Bolt added a world record double by winning the gold medal in the 200 metres.

Already well ahead coming off a tight bend that was supposed to be his only challenge, the Jamaican didn't coast for the first time in the games and bettered the world record of Michael Johnson – one that even the track great considered still out of reach.

With his time of 19.30 seconds, he sliced 0.02sec off the mark dating to the 1996 Atlanta Games. And, incredibly, he cut his personal best by a massive 0.37sec.

"I'm shocked. I am still shocked," Bolt said. "I have been aspiring to the world record for so long. I didn't think a 200m record was on because I felt tired after the heats. But I told everyone I was going to come out here and leave everything on the track and I did just that. I've proved I'm a true champion and that you can do anything you want with hard work. It's great."

On the eve of his 22nd birthday, one full of historic hyperbole, Bolt won by the biggest margin since the 200m came on the Olympic scene 108 years ago. In a sport dominated by hundreds of seconds, he beat the field by two-thirds of a second.

"Everything came together tonight and I just blew my mind and blew the world's mind," he said.

All too far behind him, defending champion Shawn Crawford went from fourth to taking silver in 19.96 after both Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles, the original runner-up, and Wallace Spearmon were disqualified for running out their lane. A second American, Walter Dix, got bronze.

Never letting up, Bolt dipped at the finish line and once he saw the record was gone, he fell to the track, his giant legs and arms pointing every which way. "He is Superman 2," Johnson said on the BBC said after he saw his record fall. No way, said Bolt. "I'm Lightning Bolt. I'm not Flash Gordon or anybody," he said. "My name is Lightning Bolt."