Bolt Inching Towards History

Usain Bolt is the man to beat in the 200-meters. He is still riding high off of his 100-meter world record and hoping to become the first man since Carl Lewis to win the 100 and 200 double.

The men semi-finals took place in the evening after the athletes ran opening rounds in the morning.

Bolt (20.29) narrowly edged out Shawn Crawford (20.42) to win his semi-final heat. Walter Dix (20.27) worked a little harder in the final 30 meters than he probably wanted to while finishing second in his heat.

When will Wallace Spearmon start running the turn?

He poured it on down the stretch to take second in his heat with 20.39. If Spearmon doesn't improve at the first half of the race, he may very well find himself too far out of position to contend for a medal in the finals.

At this point, Dix and Bolt have run a total of six races. With that, it is unlikely that we will see Michael Johnson's world record of 19.32 fall in the finals.

Never before has Bolt come into the finals of a championship race with a full round of 100-meter runs under his belt. The best strategy to challenge Bolt in the finals is for Dix or Crawford to get out the first 30 meters like they have junk yard dogs on their tail.

It is lights out in the finals if Bolt comes off the turn with lead.

By Jay Hicks.