Usain Bolt, how far can he go?

Usain Bolt crossed the finish line easily and turned to the crowd, savouring his victory. Formerly a 200-metre specialist, Jamaica's Bolt won the Olympic Games men's 100-metre gold medal, crushing everything in his way.

First, he broke his own record, set in May in New York, by 0.03 seconds. He also smashed his opponents Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago, who won the silver with a time of 9.89 seconds, and American Walter Dix, who won the bronze at 9.91 seconds.

Jamaican Asafa Powell finished fifth in the final at 9.95 seconds.

World champion Tyson Gay of the United States did not even make the final, finishing fifth in his semi in 10.15 seconds.

Bolt's win gave Jamaica its first medal of the games. He is also running in the 200 metres and hopes to be the first man to win the 100-metre and 200-metre Olympic double since Carl Lewis in 1984.

"He is gifted"

It is the first time that I've seen such a race. It was exceptional. The time of 9.69 seconds was fabulous!

But it's also the way he's did it. The emotion was really intense in the Bird's Nest. Just an hour after the race was over, there were still a lot of people in the stadium. Everybody felt the race's magic. These are rare moments that only athletics can provide.

Bolt is a particularly long (1.96 metres) and lean (88 kilograms) athlete, and yet he jumped out of the starting blocks very quickly, even if some of his opponents were faster off the blocks. He was already two metres ahead of his competitors after he had run just 60 metres. In the last 30 metres, he pulled away for good.

Weather conditions were good, the temperature ideal. There was no wind. With wind at his back, he could have pushed to 9.54 or 9.55 seconds. I've read a study that said that 9.65 seconds is the limit for humans running a 100-metre race. That means he is gifted!

He is the 21st-century athlete. He is exceptional, but that's not so surprising. I've followed his progress. When he was 15, he already ran very quickly. In 2003, just before his 17th birthday, he won the 200 metres in junior world championship in Jamaica. We already knew that he was to become a great champion. We were expecting him to bloom. That came in Beijing.

I think he is clean. He lives in Jamaica with his family; he hasn't moved to the States. He trained in his country with a Jamaican coach, Glen Mills. There, athletics is a religion, as is reggae.

This is the first time Jamaica has won a 100-metre gold medal. We're used to seeing athletes from the States reaching the top of the podium, or even English or Canadian athletes sometimes.

Usain will be only 22 this year, so he still has goals to reach. He is expected to break the 200-metre record of 19.32 seconds, set by Michael Johnson at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. If he doesn't break it this year, he will in the next few years."