Usain Bolt wins Olympics 100m final at London 2012

Usain Bolt proved himself the greatest sprinter in history once again as he retained his Olympic 100m title in peerless fashion.

Bolt, doubted by many after a season dogged by defeat and injury, ran the second-fastest time in history to beat his training partner Yohan Blake into silver and American Justin Gatlin into bronze.

Bolt’s 9.63secs, just 0.05secs slower than his own staggering world record, was a new Olympic best and capped a race in which seven men went under 10 seconds, with only the injured Asafa Powell failing to break that mark.

The 25-year-old said: “I felt I could do this. I was slightly worried about my start and it was not the best reaction in the world – but I stopped worrying about it and executed it and it worked.

“I said it on the track. People can talk – all they can do is talk. When it comes to championships I bring it.”

Bolt had been beaten by Blake at the Jamaican trials and clocked his slowest-ever 100m time at senior level earlier in the season.

When he admitted both his back and hamstrings were troubling him and said he was only “95%” fit there were those who felt he was more vulnerable than at any time since his Olympic gold in a world record four years ago, a feat which took him to the pinnacle of his sport.