Lightning Bolt Strikes Twice

So what did you do on your 22nd birthday?
If you're Usain Bolt, you run the fastest 200 metres of all time on the biggest stage in the world. And then have 91,000 of your newest admirers serenade you with renditions of 'Happy Birthday to you ...'
Some story to tell your kids someday about your Beijing Olympics experience, isn't it?
None of us will soon forget the scene that unfolded at the Bird's Nest stadium this morning, as Bolt, well, bolted through the final of the men's 200 metres in an astounding 19.30 seconds — chopping two one-hundredths of a second off the record set by American sprint star Michael Johnson at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
(so much for that Games record book. Bolt, you'll earlier recall, earlier removed Canadian Donovan Bailey's name from the Olympics annals with a 9.69-second clocking for the 100 metres).
It's also the first time a male sprinter has completed the 100-200 double since Carl Lewis at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Nobody until now, though, has done it with two world records.
The latest jaw-dropping performance had CBC's crew scrambling for new superlatives.
"He does the impossible and makes the impossible look easy," said track analyst Dave Moorcroft.
CBC's Mark Lee, who's distinguishing himself rather well in his first go at Olympic track and filed, called the Jamaican sensation "totally unstoppable" (and did you even notice who crossed the line second and third?).
Track pundits, some of whom scoffed at Bolt for celebrating too soon at the end of the men's 100 (and perhaps giving away the chance to lower that standard even further), had wondered just what Bolt could do if he ran full out to the finish. They've got their answer now. With an exclamation point or three.
And the sport, and these Olympics, have a new hero to embrace, a joyful young lad who's had the time of his life in Beijing. So, too, have the adoring fans at the Bird's Nest and around the world.
"This is the new face of track and field and this sport can use a young man like Usain Bolt," said Lee. "He's put a friendly face on track and field. He has brought a fraternity to track and field."
Added CBC analyst Michael Smith: "He's still a boy. He's having fun."
Bolt wasn't about to let his critics spoil any of that.
"Come on, man," Bolt said when presented with some of the criticism by CBC's Elliotte Friedman. "If you see you're going to win, you're going to celebrate. If you see you're going to be Olympic champion, you're happy."
Wait until he gets home to Jamaica. We're guessing there's a whole lot of happy going on there.
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Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps?
The debate's already raging over at CBC's Olympics website about who's the biggest star of the Beijing Games. We know who wins south of the border ... and in Jamaica, for that matter.