Stunning Bolt doubles up on records

By Mitch Phillips

BEIJING (Reuters) - Usain Bolt produced another barely believable performance of dominant sprinting to break Michael Johnson's untouchable world record on Wednesday and add 200 metres gold to the 100 he won in record time four days ago.

While the Jamaican crossed the line dancing in the 100 he was all business in his preferred race, needing all his lithe power to finish in 19.30 seconds, two hundredths better than Johnson's mark and more than three tenths ahead of his own previous best.

It made him the ninth man to complete the Olympic double and the first since Carl Lewis in 1984, but he is the first to take both races with world records.

"I'm shocked, I have been aspiring to the world record for so long," said Bolt, who achieved the mark despite a 0.9 second headwind. "I ran the corner as hard as possible and once I hit the straight I told myself to keep it up. The 200 medal has been my dream."

Melaine Walker made it yet another celebration for the Caribbean island when she won the women's 400 metres hurdles and Aksana Miankova of Belarus took the night's other gold in the women's hammer.

The evening session had started under a doping cloud after officials announced that Ukraine's Lyudmila Blonska, the heptathlon silver medallist and second-best qualifier for Friday's long jump final, had been thrown out of the Games after testing positive for steroids.

She only returned to competition in 2005 after serving a two-year doping ban and now faces an automatic lifetime ban.

If athletics officials were groaning about that news, they would have ended the night dancing in the streets after Bolt single-handedly ensured that their sport remained the central plank of the Olympics.