Olympics - Athletics: Usain Bolt broke his 100m world record on route to Olympic gold this afternoon and was first to salute his achievement before he even crossed the finish line in Beijing. The 21-year-old, who finished in a time of 9.69 seconds to beat his previous record of 9.72s, is the first Jamaican to claim the title.
Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago won the silver and American Walter Dix the bronze.
Asafa Powell, whose world mark Bolt bettered in May, once again failed to deliver on the big stage and finished fifth.
World champion Tyson Gay failed to make the final, finishing fifth in his semi to end hopes of a showdown between the three fastest men ever.
Bolt, a 200 metres specialist who had run only one professional race in the shorter distance before this year, will now turn his attention to becoming the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to win the Olympic sprint double.
Bolt emerged from the field with 50 metres to go and left his opponents trailing as he strode to victory.
With 10 metres to go the Jamaican was so confident of victory that he eased up considerably before slapping his chest with his palm and saluting the crowd.
"I came here just to win, that was my aim," Bolt told the BBC. "I didn't even know I'd won the record till I did my victory lap.
"I am just focusing on the 200 metres now. I came here prepared and I'm going to do it."
Powell said afterwards: "I messed up big time. My legs died on me. Usain ran an awesome race. I'm very happy for him.
"I really wanted to get that gold medal but it's just obvious I wasn't ready for it yet."
Anxious to avoid the tougher training regime of the 400 metres, Bolt reached an agreement with his coach last year that if he broke the Jamaican 200m record, he would be allowed to try the 100.
He duly delivered and ran an impressive 10.03 seconds in his first outing in Greece in July last year.
The 6ft 5in world 200m silver medallist picked up where he left off with an identical time in his first outing of 2008 but his third run in Kingston was simply remarkable.
His time of 9.76 was then the second fastest in history and his coach Glen Mills reckoned he could have broken Powell's record of 9.74 had he not turned to check on his rivals towards the end.
Better was yet to come. In New York on the last day of May, Bolt, who because of his height sometimes struggles with his start, got off to a flyer and thundered down the track in 9.72 seconds. Jamaica had a new world record holder.
Since then, he has oozed confidence and looked to be running well within himself as he stormed through the first two rounds of heats in Beijing.