USAIN Bolt proved that he is undoubtedly the world’s greatest sprinter and underlined his greatness with another phenomenal burst of speed to recapture the World 100-metre crown when he won the 14th IAAF World Athletics 100-metre dash at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow last Sunday.

Despite running in the rain-affected 100-metre final and with American former double sprint champion Justin Gatlin out like a bullet and leading the high quality field of six other finalists who clocked sub-tens in their semi-finals races; Bolt accelerated and changed gears to top flight speed that propelled him past the former American and Olympics double sprint champion to win the race with a season’s best of 9.77 secs.
The drenching rainy conditions left puddles of water on the track that would certainly have hampered the athletes in their quest to establish faster times on the new blue-mondo track.
But the 26-year-old Bolt showed the world once again that, rain or no rain, he is still the fastest human being on the planet by producing another inspirational display of power-running to restore his pre-eminence among his peers.
Since winning the Beijing Olympics 100-metre gold medal in a new world record time of 9.69 secs in the famed ‘Bird’s Nest Stadium’; Bolt has become the charismatic flag-bearer of the sport of athletics.
Bolt has also emerged as a top class entertainer and showman at major outing and with his stupendous sprinting abilities he has become the biggest attraction for all major track and field competitions because millions of followers are enthralled with his dominance against some of the world’s greatest-ever sprinters whose phenomenal times have placed them far ahead of their counterparts in the last century and more.
After his triple world records at Beijing Olympics (100, 200 and 4×100 relay), the likeable Jamaican repeated at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin the following year. But on this occasion, he was even much more imperious with another three set of world record-breaking performances that cemented his place among the greatest sprinters of all-time.
Bolt became an instant legend at Beijing and further boosted his reputation with the most unbelievable world record-breaking times of 9.58 secs in the 100 metres and 19.19 secs in the 200.
His biggest disappointment along with those of millions of admirers worldwide was experienced in 2011 when he made a crucial mistake on the starting block and was unable to repeat and keep his world crown.
Bolt shockingly false-started and was disqualified from the grand finale which was won by his younger Jamaican compatriot Johan Blake who, because of injury earlier in the season, missed the chance of defending his title and prove himself against the world’s best including his Racers Track Clubmate and world record holder.
Also missing from the Moscow showdown were American Tyson and former Jamaican world record holder Asafa Powell, both exempted from the global championships and all other athletics competition until the cloud of doping transgressions are fully investigated and they are cleared to race again.
Powell had beaten Bolt once, the year after the Beijing Olympics while Gay also achieved a similar feat when an injured Bolt had returned to competitive athletics in 2010 after his 2009 World Championships glory.
Incidentally, both sprinters achieved the feat at separate Diamond League meet on the same Stockholm Stadium track two years apart. And on both occasions Bolt was returning to active competition following injury and rehabilitation and after enjoying an unprecedented fourteen consecutive unbeaten races between the two defeats.
History has shown that once Bolt is fully fit and in good running shape, he remained the unrivalled ‘King of World Class Sprinters’.
Apart from Powell, Gay and Blake, Gatlin was the only other sprinter who narrowly edged him out of top position during the 2013 season.
Gatlin (9.93 secs) narrowly edged out Bolt (9.94) at the Diamond League Grand Prix meet at Rome on June 6. The Jamaican powerhouse was coming back from an injury to his hamstring muscle which hampered his training.
Bolt has the DNA of a proud champion but it would always going to be tricky being under such immense pressure to restore creditability to his home country Jamaica and to his globally followed sport that has been clouded by the many doping scandals that have rocked track and field with the allegations swirling around the fastest American ever, Tyson Gay; three Jamaica world class sprinters and Olympics medallists Powell, Veronica Campbell-Brown and Sherone Simpson and coupled with the latest expose of Trinidadian Kelly-Ann Baptiste, who won bronze on the women’s 100 at the Daegu World Championships; under investigation for positive result for banned substance.
These latest doping allegations that involve such a cadre of renowned high profile athletes have cast an enormous cloud of suspicion on all leading athletes.
Bolt have had to face these negatives and have openly declared that he is clean and has trained hard and competed clean in his career. But the biggest factor on his mind would have been his shocking exit and eventual disqualification from the 2011 World Championships 100-metre final at Daegu, South Korea two years ago. He entered the race without attaining some of his best times while his major rival Gatlin had registered very competitive times and was in the best shape from among all the finalists.
But being such a highly-determined competitor, the unstoppable Usain St Leo Bolt produced another majestic controlled burst of speed and heroic athleticism that neither the thunderous showers during the race nor his erstwhile rivals could deny him ultimate glory at the blue-riband event of this year’s Moscow World Championships.
The Stadium speakers had belted out the Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’ when Bolt was introduced and then there was flash of lightning and thunder before the showers took over and prevented the athletes from being in their usual comfort zone leading to such a high-pressured final to determine the world fastest runner over the 100-metre distance.
As usual, Bolt engaged the crowd with playful mimicry and on this occasion, he held up an un-imaginary umbrella to shade himself from the pouring raindrops.
A world record race was ruled out because of the wet conditions and no tail wind blowing through the stadium. In fact, the elements made it a real test for Bolt and all the other finalists as they raced into a slight headwind of -0.3 mps.
Running in lane six, Bolt got a decent start but Gatlin, who was next to him on his left in lane five; was also out very quickly and took charge of the race by the 40-metre mark after he sped past Jamaican Nickel Ashmeade who was quickest from the pistol and had opened up a two-stride advantage.
But the powerfully-built American explosive and electric-charged drive phase allowed him to sweep past his rivals and assume complete control of the race and appeared in a strong position to create a major upset and regain former glory.
However, the determined Bolt got into top gear after he switched on the turbo-charged burners. His arms were pumping like well-greased pistons and with those unmatchable enormous strides he gradually overhauled the focused Gatlin before the seventy-metre mark.
From there on, the race intensified but there was no second chance for Gatlin or anyone else to create a major upset as the tall-striding Bolt powered away to another remarkable and historic victory that re-established his greatness among the illustrious pantheon of greatest sprinters of all-time.
This Moscow 100-metre victory was his second world 100-metre title following his world record-breaking victory performance at the 2009 Berlin World Championships when he blitzed the field with a new world record of 9.58 secs. He had bettered his 2008 Beijing Olympics 100-metre world record time of 9.69 secs.
The false start and disqualification at Daegu had deprived him a chance to fight for his second World Championships 100-metre crown.
However, after two years of anguish and pain, the Jamaican ‘Golden Boy’ has redeemed himself and enacted another golden chapter of world sprinting glory. The redoubtable Bolt regains the World’s 100-metre crown and reigns supreme as the ‘Sprint King of the World’.
In the Moscow final, Gatlin also clocked his season’s best of 9.85 secs while Bolt’s Jamaican Nesta Carter (9.95 secs) claimed the bronze ahead of compatriots Kemar Bailey-Cole (9.98) and Nickel Ashmeade (9.98).
Carter was very slow out of the blocks in lane and made a terrific charge in the final thirty metres to overhaul his younger Jamaican nationals Bailey-Roach and a fading Ashmeade with about four strides remaining for the finish line.
The 100-metre gold makes it the sixth World Championships gold for Bolt who would be aiming to successfully defend his 200-metre crown and complete the unique sprint double that he achieved at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2009 Berlin World Championships and the 2013 London Olympics.
Apart from the three individual gold at Berlin (100 and 200) and Daegu (200), Bolt was part of the Jamaican record-breaking 4×100 relay team at both World Championships.
Bolt won the third semi-final heat in 9.92 secs ahead of American Mike Rogers (9.93) and Trinidadian Keston Bledman (10.08) while Gatlin (9.94) prevailed in the first ‘semis’ ahead of Carter (9.97) and France’s Jimmy Vicaut (10.01) while Ashmeade clocked the fastest time in the second semi-final race when he returned 9.90 secs ahead of Kemar Bailey-Cole (9.93).
Great Britain’s James Desaolu (9.97) and France’s Christophe Lemaitre (10.00) were third and fourth in the second semifinal and had the best two times outside of the top two finishers in the semi-final rounds which were contested also in the evening session at the Luzhniki Stadium.
Sharing his thoughts immediately after the victory in the Moscow final, Bolt said: “I am happy but I want to do better. My legs were sore after the semi-finals. I don’t know why, but the world record wasn’t on, so I came out just to win. Back in Jamaica, they do not expect less from me. They always expect me to dominate.”
Those are some of the thoughts that motivate and drive the Caribbean superstar to accomplish these phenomenal feats of sprinting excellence.  He is chasing history and will also be aiming for a repeat in the sprint relay which would give him eight world titles, the same number of Americans Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson.
At the moment, he sits on the throne and rules the sprint kingdom as the undisputed ‘King of World Sprinters’.