Justin Gatlin sprang one of the surprises of the Olympics as he won the 100 metres final tonight.
The 27-year-old American ran a personal best of 9.85 seconds - one hundredth of a second outside the Olympic record - to strike gold as five men ran under ten seconds.
Francis Obikwelu of Portugal took the silver in 9.86, with Sydney winner Maurice Greene having to settle for the bronze in a time of 9.87.
Shawn Crawford of America was fourth and Asafa Powell finished a surprising fifth.
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Britain failed to have a man in the blue riband final for the first time since the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, after Mark Lewis-Francis and Jason Gardener finished fifth in their respective semi-finals.
Lewis-Francis did not get the best of starts and could not make up the ground, clocking 10.28 seconds in the slower of the two races.
Gardener set a season’s best of 10.12 but was unable to make the first four of a semi-final which included Powell and the champion from Sydney four years ago, Greene.
Results in full:
1. Justin Gatlin (US) - 9.85 seconds
2. Francis Obikwelu (Portugal) - 9.86
3. Maurice Greene (U.S.) - 9.87
4. Shawn Crawford (U.S.) - 9.89
5. Asafa Powell (Jamaica) - 9.94
6. Kim Collins (St Kitts-Nevis) - 10.00
7. Obadele Thompson (Barbados) - 10.10
Aziz Zakari (Ghana) - did not finish