Usain Bolt produced another barely believable performance of dominant sprinting to break Michael Johnson's untouchable world record yesterday 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 tomorrow's long jump final, had been thrown out of the Games after testing positive for steroids (see opposite page).
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.
On the day before his 22nd birthday he was ridiculously relaxed as he prepared for the race, laughing and gesturing to the crowd.
Once he burst from the blocks and unwound his lengthy stride he was power and poetry fused as he left the cream of the rest of the world trailing way behind.
Obviously intent on Johnson's record, which nobody has got near since the American set it in the Olympic final 12 years ago, there were no premature celebrations as he powered through the line, though a huge grin crossed his face when he saw the time.
"It's ridiculous. He's doing it and making it look so simple," said former world champion Kim Collins, who finished seventh.
"When Michael Johnson did it, it didn't look that easy. You've got to understand. You're back there giving it everything you have and this guy is just doing it. It's brutal."
Behind Bolt it was chaos.
Churandy Martina, of Netherlands Antilles finished second ahead of American Wallace Spearmon but both were disqualified for running out of their lanes.
Defending champion Shawn Crawford, who crossed the line fourth in 19.96, was promoted to silver while Walter Dix added a belated second bronze to the one he won in the 100.
Once Bolt had completed his hugely entertaining victory lap the 400m hurdlers took to the track for yet another US vs Jamaica battle.
Walker overhauled American Sheena Tosta in the home straight to triumph in an Olympic record 52.64 seconds. Tosta took silver and Tasha Danvers grabbed bronze for Britain.
Jamaica have now collected seven athletics medals, including golds in three sprints, and could make it a clean sweep after defending champion Veronica Campbell-Brown and 100 metre joint-silver medallists Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart qualified for today's 200m final.
Bruce Golding, Prime Minister of Jamaica, told Reuters he hoped to declare a national holiday after the Games to celebrate the island's success.
"Usain Bolt is a super human being. The world has never seen anything like him," he said.
The women's 200 is the highlight of today's programme, where there are also finals in men's 400m, 110 hurdles and triple jump and women's javelin.
The medal action kicks off early with the women's 20k walk.