In depth: Reaction to Usain Bolt’s ‘miracle’ run and what it means for athletics

Steve Cram, the BBC’s chief athletics commentator was uncharacteristically effusive when he said after Bolt's magnificent and totally unexpected victory:

The BBC followed up by claiming it was a miracle.

And of course, the papers dressed up the victory as “good triumphing over evil”.

For those who only take an occasional interest in athletics, it might seem strange that Bolt, one of the greatest athletes of all time, winning another medal is such a huge result.

Yet the 29-year-old, who was unbeaten in nine global championship sprint finals over the past seven years, without including the false start which ruled him out of the 100m final at the 2011 World Championships, was an overwhelming underdog before the race.

That was due to the form of Gatlin. The American was top of the world rankings over both the 100m and 200m and unbeaten in 28 races. He also boasted the four fastest times this year, between 9.74 seconds and 9.78 seconds.

To top it off, the 33-year-old was painted as the villain after twice failing drugs tests and being utterly unrepentant about his past.

Bolt also had problems - he had been plagued by injury issues since spring of last year when he had surgery on his foot and did not properly begin his season until June 2015.

Firstly, Bolt had a better start than in his semi-final where he nearly fell over. The Jamaican also tried to clear his mind after that race. He said: “After the semi-finals my coach [Glen Mills] said, 'Listen, you are thinking about it too much, there’s too much on your mind, all you have to do is remember that you’ve been in this position a million times so just go out there, relax and get it done,' and that’s what I did.”

There was a helping hand from his rival as well as Gatlin erred five metres from the line, just as it seemed he might clinch gold. He said: “I gave it away,” he said. “I stumbled and my arms got a little flaily.”

Inevitably, like any great triumph there was a lot of hard work that went on behind the scenes. Bolt added: “I’ve shown the world that it is possible to do it clean. I’ve always pushed myself. For me, it’s just about hard work and dedication. I’ve been doing it for years. Just focus and work hard.”

Talk of a miracle is, of course, excessive and saving the sport is also a bit far-fetched. There are, after all, 66 convicted drugs cheats in Beijing and four of them were in the 100m final. There is clearly a lot of work still to be done.

But this was still an astonishing victory. With everything going against him, Bolt was simply majestic. In 10 seconds he was yet again a wonderful spectacle and gave hope to the sport that it can come through a dark era.

Darren Campbell, a British 4x100m relay gold medallist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, summed it up well when he said: “The sport needs to sort itself out and we have that opportunity to start from a positive position thanks to the great Usain Bolt. Talk about a hero – we’ve witnessed greatness.”

Britain’s Jessica Ennis-Hill also crowned a remarkable victory in the heptathlon after only deciding to compete in Beijing in the last month. If came after her return to training last autumn following the birth of her son Reggie.

The 29-year-old also received her fair share of deserved praise.