London Olympics Day 13: Bolt strikes twice, Jamaica trice

Author: Stephanie Kovalchik

Bolt oozes confidence, but has Blake rattled him?

Their personal bests differ by only 0.07s.

Image by Nick Webb/Wikimedia.

Two athletes stood out on Day 13 - David Rudisha won the 800m race and broke his own world record in the process, and Usain St. Leo Bolt winning the 200m. The 800m race was so fast that seven of the eight competitors posted personal bests, and even last-placed Brit Andrew Osagie's time would have seen him win gold at the previous two Olympics. The 200m race was built up as a duel between Bolt and his friend and rival Yohan Blake, with Blake beating at Bolt at the Jamaican trials but losing the 100m Olympic final recently. More on the 200m below.

Meanwhile the United States continue to gobble up medals, collecting 9 more after Day 13's competition. There were two team golds for the American women - one in soccer (beating Japan 2-1 at Wembley) and one for water polo. The American men were equally impressive, taking gold and silver in the triple jump and the decathlon.

While the gold medalist of the decathlon is usually the man to take the title of "greatest athlete in the world", Ashton Eaton will have some competition in the history books after Usain Bolt's performance in the 200m. With the fastest time of 19.32 seconds, Bolt proved that he is the Carl Lewis of 21st century. But the real star of Day 13 was Jamaica, who swept the 200m medals. Only one other nation has accomplished the same feat at this stage of the Games - Italy in women's foil.

Yohan 'The Beast' Blake.

Image by Nick Webb/Wikimedia.

After a lackluster day, Great Britain's athletes put four more medals on the board, three golds and one bronze. With 52 medals overall, the home country has already surpassed its total at the Beijing Summer Games by 5 medals, and there are three full days of competition and 64 events to go. While two of Team GB's medals were earned in equestrian, the remaining two were earned in events that are relatively new to the Games - women's taekwondo and women's boxing. Taekwondo became a medal event for both sexes at the 2000 Sydney games, and this summer is the first Olympiad to award medals in women's boxing. Team GB has to be thankful for these changes to the Olympic Programme, which made it possible for fighters Jade Jones and Nicola Adams to capture gold today.

More details of the 200m results and today's other individual track and field events follow.

Women's javelin. Since the 1932 Games win women's javelin debuted, female Olympians have gained 30+ meters on their throwing distance. This year Barbora Špotáková snagged a second gold, following her Beijing performance of 71.42 meters with a somewhat less impressive throw of 69.55 meters. But even Špotáková's Olympic best is far from the standing Olympic record if 74.68 meters set by East German Petra Felke at the Seoul Summer Games. However, the javelin was redesigned in 2000, so the pre- and post-2000 throws are really not comparable.

David Rudisha during 2011 World

championships Athletics in Daegu.

Image by Erik van Leeuwen/Wikimedia.

Men's 800m. After a recently spectacular year in 1996, when Norwegian Vebjørn Rodal completed the 800m with Olympic-record time of 1:42.58, the medal-winning finishes slowed by 2 to 3 seconds in the next three Olympiads. David Rudisha of Kenya finally ended the slump this summer with a blazing time of 1:40.91, a new World Record. A shout-out also has to go to Nigel Amos for winning the first athletics medals for Botswana with his second-place finish.

Men's triple jump. Men's triple jump has gained 5+ meters since the Paris inaugural Games. Today's jumpers are still chasing American Mike Conley 18.17 meters at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Fellow Americans Christian Taylor and Will Claye gave it their best at London, earning a gold and silver with jumps of 17.81 and 17.62 meters. Bronze medalist Fabrizio Donato had even more reason to cheer with his win as it was the first athletics medal for Italy.

Men's 200m. The Jamaican trio of Bolt, Blake, and Weir took Day 13 to teach the world a lesson about speed. Winning gold, Bolt became the first man to win the 100m and 200m sprints in back-to-back Olympiads. Even with a time that was 0.14 seconds slower than his run at the 2008 Games, the Bolt who loves to light up a crowd did not disappoint.