Usain Bolt was sensationally disqualified from the world 100m final on Sunday after a catastrophic false start, allowing fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake in to claim gold. Bolt, the defending champion, Olympic gold medallist and world record holder, rocked off his blocks in horrendous fashion and knew immediately he had made the biggest error possible in the world of sprinting. Under rules which state that athletes no longer have a second bite of the cherry in the event of one false start, the 25-year-old ripped off his singlet in disgust, and slowly retreated to the starting line, head in hands, to be steered off the track. With the packed stadium abuzz in disbelief, it took several minutes for calm to return. Blake, a training partner of Bolt under coach Glen Mills, made the most of the clean restart to power through to win in 9.92sec in a muted atmosphere. American Walter Dix, the Olympic bronze medallist, took silver (10.08sec) and 2003 world champion Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis claimed bronze at 0.01. “I have nothing to say right now. I need some time,” Bolt said. Blake was left dumbstruck. “I can’t find words to explain it. Usain Bolt has been there for me. I feel like I want to cry,” he said. “I’ve been trained by one of the best coaches but I stayed cool and caught him (Collins). I felt I would win the race for Bolt.” Athletics’ governing body, the IAAF, said it was “disappointed” by Bolt’s disqualification, and issued a statement to explain the false start rule 162.7.
