Alien, freak or just lightning?

Only days ago Michael Phelps was destined to be chronicled as the most dominant athlete of the 2008 Olympics. Then the Bird's Nest was struck by Lightning. Thrice!

"I just blew my mind, and blew the world's mind," Jamaican sprinter Usain "Lightning" Bolt, who had just clipped the 200-metre record at the national stadium in Beijing, said a few minutes after midnight.

Not one world record, but three for Bolt, the 100-metre mark and then yesterday he helped Jamaica smash the 4x100m relay record.

Bolt looked at the clock.

"Hey," he said, "I'm 22."

Indeed, the birthday boy was blowing minds.

The world's fastest man was slow to reach the interview room. But, hey, you don't rush the prime minister off the telephone when he calls to say congratulations and the streets back home are jammed with celebration.

You can count Prime Minister Bruce Golding among those blown away by Bolt eclipsing Michael Johnson's 12-year-old record. You can also count Jamaica's minister of sport, Olivia Grange, who said Bolt will be as popular back home as Bob Marley.

Of all the awestruck, though, the most telling are Bolt's teammates and competitors. Jamaica's Michael Frater brought up the name Michael Jordan.

One opponent called Bolt a freak. Another used the word alien. More than one opted for superhuman.

The best description, however, came courtesy of former 100-metre world champion Kim Collins, who placed Bolt's accomplishment in an historical perspective. "Michael Johnson did it," said Collins. "But it didn't look that easy."

Under normal circumstances, sprinting is strictly a numbers game.

That's too boring for Bolt, who likes to entertain, too, on the track and off.

He likes to dance. He boogies before races and after, like Wednesday night, when he really cut loose while draped in the Jamaican flag. He had the media laughing with tales of chicken nuggets for breakfast and dinner.

He's a showman, part Terrell Owens, and part Chad Johnson. He's exactly what track and field needs, especially in the US, where so many of the sport's stars have been disgraced by steroids scandal.

Not only is Bolt making history, but, as American sprinter Wallace Spearmon pointed out, he's making track and field fun.

"He added spirit to the sport," said Spearmon, who finished third before disqualification for stepping on the lane line.

Bolt though, admitted he failed initially to realise his natural talent as a junior, when aged just 15 he became the youngest ever world junior champion in Kingston, because he loved to go out and party and enjoy his favourite pastime of dancing.

"Regarding the partying, well you grow up and see the bigger picture," he confessed shortly after breaking compatriot Asafa Powell's 100m record at the end of May.

"It takes a lot of hard work and dedication. I decided it was time to change, not everything, only a little," added Bolt, who conceded that the partying was mainly focussed on dancing.

Bolt, who like most Jamaicans played cricket until his coach recommended he take up athletics instead, has taken his laid back image onto the track, entertaining the crowd and media with his repertoire of signals and impromptu jigs.

"I just chill, I don't try and think too much about the race," said Bolt, who revealed that prior to the 100m he had eaten chicken nuggets. "I just relax and try to think about cars or something like that."

The transformation in his attitude has come about ever since he linked up with coach Glen Mills four years ago.

Mills helped him to regain his self-belief after suffering several injuries.

"I never really doubted, I worried a little bit after two years of injuries," said Bolt, who took his first senior medal last year with a 200m silver at the world championships. "However, things changed dramatically when I joined up with Glen."

Bolt placed his faith in Mills with the coach advising on the wisdom of a Beijing sprint double – a feat last achieved by Carl Lewis in Los Angeles at the 1984 Olympics. His faith in Mills' judgement has been more than repaid here.

"He [Mills] is like a father figure to me. He has never done me any wrong and he has always made the right decisions," said Bolt. "He is a guiding light in my career and he has shown me the way to improve myself both as a person and as an athlete."

Bolt may respect his elders and mentors but he has cracked two of his role models' feats here in the space of five days, first going one better than compatriot Don Quarrie, who had come closest to landing a first Olympic 100m title for Jamaica when he took silver in 1976.

And on Wednesday he went one better as he destroyed Michael Johnson's 200m world record which the American set in the 1996 Games in Atlanta by two hundreths of a second.

"This is more than I can handle really, I'm a bit overwhelmed. I didn't think a 200m record was on because I felt tired after the heats," said Bolt after the final.

"But I told everyone I was going to come out here and leave everything on the track and I did just that."

Collins had another philosophical assessment of Bolt: "He [Bolt] is not human," said the 32-year-old, though, he added "Eventually he'll come back down to earth."

The question for his rivals is, when?

The Bolt box

Date of Birth: 21/08/1986

Place of birth: Trelawny, Jamaica

Nationality: Jamaican

Height: 1.96m

Weight: 88kg

Honours:

- 2008: 100m Olympics – 1st; 200m Olympics 1st

- 2007: 200m World championships – 2nd

- 2007: 4x100 m World championships – 2nd

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