KEY POINTS:
Usian Bolt established himself as the star of the track at Beijing, winning the 100m final and setting a new world record.
He became the first man to run under 9.7s, winning in 9.69s and simply mowing his rivals off the track.
Trinidad's Richard Thompson was second in
9.89s, with the USA's Walter Dix third in 9.91s.
Asafa Powell, expected to be Bolt's main rival, reinforced his reputation for bottling the big ones, running sixth in 9.95s.
Bolt's confidence was in evidence before the start when he struck the pose of `The Archer' as his name was called. That was in stark contrast to Powell, who did not even acknowledge his introduction.
Bolt, who turns 22 on Thursday, goes again in the heats of the 200m tomorrow.
Bolt had not considered running the 100m at this Olympics, concentrating instead on the 200m that was meant to suit his long-limbed frame. It was thought he'd never be explosive enough out of the blocks to be a genuine 100m threat. But that all changed this year when he started running ridiculous times in the short distance while, supposedly, just using it as speed work for his preferred event.
That thinking was once and for all exposed as folly in New York earlier this year when Bolt broke Powell's world record, running 9.72s in less than favourable conditions.
That result signalled not only that there was a new superstar of the track, but that Jamaica were poised for an unprecedented one-two to assert their position as the premier world sprinting nursery.
It was supposed to be a three-way dash for glory between Bolt, Powell and Tyson Gay but Gay never progressed out of the semifinals, beaten into fifth by little-known compatriot Darvis Patton.
"I just didn't have nothing in me today," Gay said. "I ran as fast as I could. I gave it 100 per cent. I need to do more training, run more races, maybe try to get into a rhythm."
The final also featured Churandy Martina of the tiny Netherlands Antilles. He'd never run under 10 seconds before last night's semifinal, dropping his personal best by .12s to 9.94s.
Martina brought the number of athletes from the Caribbean to six.
Today, though, they'll only be talking about one.