Jamaica's world and Olympic champion had played to the crowd when the camera lingered on him before the start, widening his eyes in response to the tumultuous noise, wiping his brow and then advancing on the lens with raised eyebrows and jabbing fingers.

But after a series of delays due to problems with the timing apparatus, even the effervescent champion was left looking nonplussed.

The newly laid Mondo track at the Stade de France did not get a superfast christening from Bolt as he comfortably held off local hero Christophe Lemaitre to win in 20.03sec on a night when an appreciative crowd of 49,174 spectators saw four world-leading marks set and victories for their other home hopes in Renaud Lavillenie and Mahiedine Mekhissi Benabbad.

After a race in which he had slowed dramatically over the final 30 metres, a relatively subdued Bolt commented: "It was just one of those days.

"There were some problems at the start.

"Up to 150 metres it was okay, but the last 50 were not good. I need to stay focused now and get better in the next few weeks. I was not feeling good because of a flu, but at the end of the day I decided to run and could win."

In the circumstances, Bolt would have had particular reason not to appreciate the lengthy delay before the night's finale.

The field had to take to their blocks three times before getting belatedly away, with a number of them having attempted to keep warm with little bursts of sprinting.

Lemaitre, straining to keep in touch, took second place in a season's best of 20.21, with Darvis Patton of the United States third in 20.59.

It was the first time Bolt had finished a 200 metres, excluding rounds, in more than 20 seconds since September 14, 2007, when he finished third in Brussels.

Lemaitre said he was "disappointed" not to have beaten the French national record and not running under 20 seconds.

"But it wasn't the right race to do it," he added.

"I'm pleased with my result - second after Bolt, and in front of serious competition, is very satisfying."

David Oliver's smooth progress towards the World Championships 110m hurdles event, temporarily upset by his defeat at the hands of former world and Olympic champion Liu Xiang at the Shanghai Diamond League in May, received another jolt as he was beaten by his other great rival, Cuba's world record holder Dayron Robles, with both men recording 13.09.

Meeting Areva's four finest efforts of the season so far came from Cuba's Yargelis Savigne, with a triple jump of 14.99 metres, Germany's Christina Obergfoll, who won the javelin with a throw of 68.01m, Ethiopia's Meseret Defar, who earned a 5,000m victory in 14min 29.52sec, and Zuzana Hejnova, who won the 400m hurdles in 53.29, which was also a Czech Republic record.


Benabbad, the European champion, caused the stadium to fill with patriotic noise as he came home half a straight clear of his nearest Kenyan challenger, Ezekiel Kemboi, in the men's 3,000m steeplechase to lower his personal best with a time of 8:02.09.

And the home spectators soon had another reason to be waving the bright yellow fans which had been distributed throughout the stadium as another of their European champions, the personable Lavillenie, secured his third consecutive pole vault win at this meeting with an effort of 5.73m.

But asked about how he had found the newly laid runway, he responded by describing it as "horribly hard," adding: "My bones were in pain, I have a bad headache. This affected my performance."

South Africa's Caster Semenya claimed her first Samsung Diamond League victory of the season in the 800m, although her time of 200.18 was slower than she would have hoped.

Chris Tomlinson had a highly satisfactory long jump as he regained the British record which had been taken from him by Greg Rutherford with a third round effort of 8.35m which looked capable of delivering the lanky Middlesbrough jumper the bonus of a first Diamond League victory.

But that ambition was spoiled by the fifth round effort of Panama's former world champion Irving Saladino, who reached out to 8.40m.

Jeremy Wariner, the former Olympic 400m champion, suffered his first defeat in Paris as fellow American Chris Brown came through in the final 20 metres to win in a season's best of 44.94.

Wariner, who had never seriously contended for the lead, third faded to fourth in 45.50, one place ahead of multiple Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius.

The South African finished well off the A standard of 45.25 he needs to reach the London 2012 Games, clocking 45.84.

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