BEIJING — Shawn Crawford crossed the finish line fourth, but ended up with a silver medal in the men's 200 meters. And considering the performance Usain Bolt gave to win, finishing second in this race was a bit like a victory itself.

Crawford would have preferred his silver not come this way: first, his U.S. teammate Wallace Spearmon, who originally appeared to have the bronze, was disqualified for running out of his lane. Then, the same thing happened to second-place Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles.

Crawford, who won the 200 in the 2004 Olympics, came past reporters more than an hour after the race and was asked about bumping up to second on the disqualifications. At that point, he had not even heard about Martina.

"Oh, Lord," Crawford said. "OK, so they're saying Wallace Spearmon stepped out. And the second-place guy stepped out."

Then Crawford delivered a punch line to roars of laughter: "Well, I hope Usain stepped out, too. That'd mean I'd go home with the gold."

Of course, that wasn't the case as Bolt did everything just about perfectly on the way to a mind-blowing time of 19.30 seconds. It was a world record - topping Michael Johnson's 19.32 set at the 1996 Olympics - and gave Bolt his second gold of these Summer Games. It made him the first man since American Carl Lewis to win the Olympic sprint double.

"I've been saying all season that the 200 meters means a lot more to me than the 100," Bolt said. "(So) this world record means a lot more to me than the 100 meters."

Usain broke the world record in that race, too, Saturday with a 9.69. He said he's always liked running in the 200 more, though, which is why that record resonated more with him. Even though the 100 is the "glamour" race of any meet.

This particular Olympic meet has turned into the Bolt Invitational.

"It means a lot to me and the country as well," Bolt said. "I talked to the prime minister, and he told me that everywhere in Jamaica is blocked off, everybody is in the streets. I'm happy with myself. I'm just real proud."

Bolt was so dominant that the race was all but over even before he came off the curve.

"He's doing it and making it look simple," said Kim Collins, who ended up sixth after the disqualifications. "Michael Johnson did it, and it didn't look that easy.

"You're in the race, and that guy is just doing it. And you're back there giving everything you have, and you can't catch him for nothing. I mean, it's brutal."

The race was run around 10:20 p.m. Beijng time, and afterward Spearmon took a U.S. flag and danced around the track, celebrating the bronze he thought he'd won. But then the "DQ" appeared next to his name.

The U.S. team filed an appeal acknowledging that Spearmon stepped out of his lane, but that it was when the straightaway started and not on the curve. Thus, it gave him no illegal advantage.

That protest was denied, and the U.S. accepted the result. However, during a tape review, U.S. officials filed a subsequent protest, saying that Churandy had made the same mistake. That was upheld. It moved Americans Crawford to silver and Walter Dix to bronze. Dix also took a bronze in the 100 meters.

It was after midnight by the time all this was sorted out, and so the clock struck on Bolt's birthday. He turned 22 on Aug. 21, a fact he noted during his press conference. He joked he wished he were in sandals somewhere "taking a weekend" but he's actually not done here yet. He will also compete in the 4x100-meter relay.

"I've got one more to go, and I know the guys are all looking forward to it," he said. "I'm trying to refocus again to get one more gold medal."

Crawford said he wasn't surprised by the record time in the 200 because Bolt had been running so well this summer.

"What Bolt has done - he's made history," Crawford said. "He broke a 12-year old record that was held by Michael Johnson. He's crushed the 100-meter record. He's added spirit to the sport. He danced for us at the introduction, he danced at the end. I mean, he put on a show.

"I feel like him and (track) is just like Michael Phelps and swimming. He raised the bar for us as sprinters."