Fourteen years ago in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium, ninety thousand fans roared Usain Bolt down the home straight to shatter the men’s 100 metres world record and instantly establish one of the Olympic Games’ most indelible images.
On Saturday night in the Chinese capital, memories of Bolt’s 9.69 super-charge remained fresh in the memory, but the masked officials and plunging temperatures told a different story, of a Games that threaten to be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
