Usain Bolt startled the world again.
The Jamaican sprinting great, who turns 23 on Friday, captured the 200-meter gold medal in 19.19 seconds Thursday, yet another world record.
His time in the 200 slashed 0.11 seconds off the mark he set last year at the Beijing Olympics and came four days after he broke his 100 record by the same margin.
“I am on my way to being a legend,” said Bolt, who gritted his teeth and pointed to the clock as soon as his time flashed.
No one among the near capacity crowd at the 70,000-seat Olympic Stadium disagreed.
“If Queen Elizabeth knighthooded me and I would get the title Sir Usain Bolt, that would be very nice,” Bolt said.
Bolt is now 5 for 5 in major sprint events. He won the gold in the 100, 200 and sprint relay in Beijing’s Bird Nest, each time with a world record. Now he is one race away from doing likewise in Berlin.
“I was running my heart out,” Bolt said. “I got my start right and that was the key.”
Alonso Edward of Panama was second, a distant 0.62 seconds behind Bolt. Wallace Spearmon of the U.S. took bronze.
“Just coming out there, I’m just waiting for the lights to flash ‘game over,’ ’cause I felt like I was in a video game,” said Shawn Crawford, who finished fourth. “That guy was moving — fast.”
