BEIJING — Fastest man in the world?
Saturday's final of the men's 100-meter dash left no doubt.
Usain Bolt captured the gold medal in a world-record 9.69 seconds at National Stadium, aka the Bird's Nest. He is Jamaica's first champion in the Olympic 100. Bolt broke his own world record of 9.72, set May 31 at New York.
Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago took the silver medal in 9.89.
NCAA champion Walter Dix, out of Florida State, scored the bronze in 9.91. Teammate Darvis Patton finished eighth in 10.01.
On the court, the United States destroyed any illusions Spain might have had about being a close second favorite in the men's basketball competition at the Beijing Olympics with a 119-82 Pool B victory over the defending World Champions at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium on Saturday.
USA forward LeBron James scored nine of the Americans' first 16 points, while the U.S. forced Spain into boo boo after boo boo and beat Spain to the other end to score.
Spain got tied up several times in the U.S. trap in the game's first minutes and turned the ball over nine times in the first period.
The U.S. (4-0) led 61-45 at the half and 72-48 after three minutes in the third. The 37-point margin of victory was the Americans' largest of this tournament and it came against the team considered most capable of beating them.
James led the U.S. assault with 18 points. Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade added 16, Chris Paul 14, and Deron Williams and Kobe Bryant 11.
Felipe Reyes scored 19 points for Spain and Bryant's Los Angeles Laker teammate Pau Gasol scored 13.
Spain (3-1), which is now 0-9 in Olympic play against the U.S., must regroup and figure out how it will put up a bigger fight if the two teams meet again.
The U.S. will cruise into the quarterfinals regardless of what happens on Monday against Germany. Germany, which lost to China on Saturday, has to win to advance to the quarterfinals.
The top eight teams in the tournament advance to the one-and-done round, which begins Wednesday.
In baseball, Terry Tiffee and Brian Barden drove in two runs each Saturday as Team USA rallied from a 4-0 deficit to edge Canada 5-4 at the Wukesong Olympic Baseball Field.
Left-hander Brian Duensing came on in relief, holding the Canadians to a single over the last 3 1/3 innings.
Both teams came in with 1-2 records, all four losses coming by one run each. With only four of eight teams advancing past round-robin play, a loss would all but eliminate one team. As Canada's Stubby Clapp said afterward, "the stars are gonna have to align right now" if Canada is to reach the semifinals.
Canada outhit the Americans 10-9, including three hits by Chris Robinson. Seven of those hits came over the second, third and fourth innings, when Canada scored all of its runs.
Barden, who plays for Cardinals AAA affiliate Memphis, said Team USA never panicked.
"We all knew we needed this game and we get down 4-0," he said. "We got a little fire in our belly, and the coaches got after us after the first couple innings because we weren't having good at-bats."
In other events Saturday:
— Twin brothers and No. 1 seeds Mike and Bob Bryan of Camarillo, Calif., won the bronze medal in men's doubles tennis, defeating France's Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The gold went to Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.