Usain Bolt glanced to his right once, twice, three times. No surprise: Nobody was there.That's how the quest began for his final individual sprint gold at the Olympics — a jog through the sunshine in the opening round of the 200 meters and a stress-free victory in the ninth heat of Tuesday's qualifying.
He finished in 20.28 seconds, a time that means nothing. More importantly, he coasted into the finish line after triple-checking on Nigeria's Ejowvokoghene Oduduru simply to make sure nothing crazy was happening Bolt will run in the semifinals Wednesday, and if that goes as expected, he'll be lining up for gold medal No. 8 on Thursday night, where the biggest drama may not be whether he wins, but whether he cracks the once-thought-untouchable 19-second barrier. He already owns both the world record at 19.19, and Olympic record at 19.30.
Others who will challenge him include American Justin Gatlin and Canadian Andre De Grasse, who finished 2-3 to Bolt in the 100, along with laShawn Merritt of the U.S. They all won their heats on a muggy, sun-splashed day in a stadium with huge swaths of empty blue seats. The fans went silent before the start. No, there would be no fireworks in an opening heat with no medal at stake and nobody lining up who could even give him a race.
Only one other sprinter in his heat, Norway's Jaysuma Saidy Ndure, had ever broken 20 seconds and he finished tied for last.He lumbered out of the blocks. His .177 reaction time was the slowest of the eight runners.