He was running the 200m and came in 2nd to Tyson Gay at this very championship. Tyson won both the 100m and 200m this year. Bolt didn't run the 100m as a pro until the next year, 2008. His coach Glen Mills told him he had to break the Jamaican 200m national record before he'd let him run the 100m. Bolt broke the record at the 2007 Jamaican National Championships before the World Championships here.

He was close to gold medal shape. Only one faster than him that year was Gay. He let Atkins catch him at the line. You can see Asafa give up at about 85m-90m and not pump his arms anymore. He did something similar in 2009. When Asafa would get caught in the middle of the race, as in his start wasn't good enough to pull away, he'd tense up and not run at his best. Have you seen the front cam footage of this race? Asafa was very tense in the face and neck most of the race. He did not run relaxed at all which is why he lost to Gay who was honestly in the best form in 2007 anyway since he went and won the 200m after this against Bolt and Spearmon. Go and watch when Asafa ran 9.74 while slowing down in a semi final to break his 9.77 world record. I think he did later in 2007 because in 2008 Bolt broke it in NY and ran 9.72. Asafa was extremely relaxed and let his training take over and easily ran 9.7 with perfect form. He pushed too hard in this race in this video here in 2007 so he lost his form toward the end and only ran 9.9. Big difference. Also watch his 9.72 after the Olympics in 2008 when he ran through the line in perfect form all the way through.

I watched this race as a child in 1996. We're all screaming in our house from my father, mother and siblings. We felt proud being Nigerians. I never forgot the name falilat ogunkoya. We're a great people

Even after so many years I still feel like I was running that race with them… I’m still so proud. It was our best Olympics…