IAAF World Championships
Bolt gets the victory athletics wanted
Usain Bolt retained his World 100 metres championship by narrowly beating his controversial rival Justin Gatlin in Beijing.
It was the Jamaican’s third Gold Medal at this distance and he won despite coming into the final narrowly behind Gatlin who had a superior semi-final time.
Bolt had stumbled in his own semi-final but did enough to take the heat, but the doubts over his performance raised the already high tempo atmosphere.
Bolt snatched victory in the final in a time of 9.79 seconds, against Gatlin’s 9.8.
Because of Gatlin’s past doping offences the result was hailed as a victory for athletics which has been tarnished by allegations of widespread abuse.
BBC commentator Steve Cram said he was not sorry to see Gatlin lose and noted that all the ex-athletes in the media seats at the Olympic stadium were on their feet when Bolt (pictured left after his victory) was announced the winner.
Britain’s Jessica Ennis-Hill won Gold in the Heptathlon.
