Usain Bolt and Walter Dix break the 10-second barrier with ease to qualify for the men's 100m final (© Getty Images)
We thought it might happen and it actually did.
Tyson Gay, the World 100m champion, had looked far from full fitness during yesterday's heats and quarter-finals and he tamely crashed out the Olympic Games by finishing fifth in the second semi-final.
Gay has, of course, been sidelined since he pulled up injured in the 200m with a hamstring injury at the US Olympic Trials and went into the championships perilously short of fitness.
Running in the outside lane nine in the second semi-final he was never at the races.
Gay made a sluggish start and always struggled to impose his presence on the race, clocking 10.05, his Olympic dream over.
At the front it was former World record holder Asafa Powell who clinched the semi with an efficient victory in 9.91.
Just 0.02 behind the Jamaican was Trinidad's Richard Thompson, who equalled his personal best and continues to quietly impress in the competition.
Churandy Martina of the Netherlands' Antilles set a national record of 9.94 for third and he, too, will fancy his medal chances in the final.
Fourth and 0.02 ahead of a despondent Gay was Darvis Patton in 10.03 who will take his place in the final later tonight.
Francis Obikwelu, the 2004 Olympic 100m silver medallist, had to settle for sixth in 10.10 and the man from Portugal will play no further part in the 100m.
Has 9.85 ever looked easier? World record holder Usain Bolt gave yet more fuel to the belief that later tonight the Jamaican sensation will become Olympic champion by cantering to an emphatic victory in the first semi-final.
The eight-strong field chasing four automatic places for the final got away at the first time of asking and Trindad's Marc Burns was a slight leader at 30m.
However, from the halfway mark the mighty Bolt ambled into the lead his giant stride devoring the ground to stop the clock in 9.85 - within 0.13 of the World record mark he set in May.
Behind Bolt US trials runner-up Walter Dix kept his head, not easy when you have Bolt ahead of you, to cross the line second in 9.95, a possible hint at his medal potential.
Burns also produced a fluent piece of sprinting to book his final spot in 9.97 for third.
Michael Frater, the 2005 World 100m silver medallist, secured the fourth position for the final in 10.01 and guaranteed a full complement of three Jamaicans in the final.
There was disappointment, however, for former World champion Kim Collins (10.05) of St Kitts and Nevis who was run out of a place in the final for fifth. The 2007 World silver medallist Derrick Atkins of the Bahamas also missed out. He was sixth in 10.13.
Gay spoke of his disappointment at not making the final and said: "Toward the finish line I couldn't tell if I made it to the finals or not. I looked up there and realized I didn't. It was kind of devastating. I may have needed more races, but I don't really have any excuses. I just didn't make it. My hamstring feels good, it's not bothering me."
Steve Landells for the IAAF
