Usain Bolt makes history with second gold medal and 200m world record

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt set the world on fire again last night in Berlin after he smashed the world record for 200m, that he had set just last year at the Beijing Olympics, on his way to the World Championship gold medal.

His time of 19.19sec knocked 0.11sec off the old record, and was his second world record and gold medal of the meeting in Berlin. He still has the 4x100m relay to come, and has targetted another world record in that event.

As with Sunday night's 100m triumph, there was no fooling around during the race for the sprinter, who turns 23 today, as he reacted quickest to the gun in 0.133second and was on the shoulder of the athlete to his right within five strides.

Panama's Alonso Edward won silver with 19.81sec, while the American Wallace Spearmon took bronze in 19.85sec. The first five men all came in under 20 seconds, and Bolt now becomes the first man to hold the 100 and 200m world and Olympic titles at the same time.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Rick Broadbent, the Times: "Another day, another miracle. Usain Bolt continued his habit of doing extraordinary things with the air of a man in search of a hammock on the porch, but this time he had to get his hands dirty. 'I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try,' he said after dismantling another world record in jaw-dropping fashion. 'If Queen Elizabeth knighted me, then I would get the title Sir Usain Bolt. That would be nice.' It was a year to the day since Bolt broke Michael Johnson’s 200 metres record in the Olympic final. He has been surfing a wave of goodwill since, smashing records and crashing cars, but if his destruction of his 100 metres record on Sunday was stunning, this appeared more of a challenge."

Neil Wilson, Daily Mail: "Bolt is resurrecting interest in the sport so badly damaged by the doping crimes of previous generations. More than 10 million Germans watched his 100m world record on television, more than watched the last World Cup final. The man at the centre of the maelstrom remains as cool as an iced rum and Coke, able to perform for the cameras up to the moment he is invited to go to his blocks. Last night, to the delight of his German hosts, he walked into the stadium wearing a Jamaican T-shirt inscribed with the words 'Ich Bin Ein Berlino', recalling President Kennedy's remark in his famous address to the city during the Cold War. The locals excused him his single spelling mistake."

Anna Kessel, the Guardian: "Before the race Michael Johnson, from whom Bolt took the 200m world record in 2008, had argued that you cannot miss out on basic training without it affecting your performance. He noted that Bolt's natural fortitude for the 100m would not wash in the 200m, that putting in the hours to improve his speed endurance was an essential requirement that brought even Bolt down to mere mortal standards. With a minimum of fuss, Bolt dispensed of that theory. The question is, what on earth would he have done to the record had he prepared properly? In an event where the world record has been broken just four times – now five - since electronic timing began in 1977, compared to the 14 times the 100m record has fallen, Bolt's achievement last night was simply extraordinary." ·