Bolt, who is still due to run the 200m and relay here, made his way from the stadium to the warm-up track without comment, although he did respond briefly to a suggestion about the longer event.

"The 200 metres?" he said.

"I'll have to see how well I go...

"I can't find the words to describe it," Blake told Channel 4 after winning in a season's best of 9.92sec.

"My training partner has been there for me.

"I feel like I want to cry.

"I've been praying for this moment.

"It feels like a dream."

Bolt's folly followed that of Christine Ohuruogu in the 400m, although Britain's Olympic and former world champion had no real excuse for her lack of concentration.


But the huge sense of anti-climax which Bolt's annulment created may lead to a reconsideration of the zero tolerance rule brought in last year.

Kim Collins, who at 35 became the oldest World Championship 100m medallist by taking bronze in 10.09, added his weight to the argument that the rule should return to a previous status where at least one false start was allowed.

"I don't think it is right," said the St Kitts and Nevis athlete, who finished one hundredth of a second behind Walter Dix of the United States.

"These things happen but you have to give people a chance."

A few seconds before the start, Bolt had japed to the crowd in his usual fashion with the camera on him, pointing to left and right and then shaking his head before pointing down his lane with both fingers and nodding.

The crowd responded, looking forward to another performance along the lines they had witnessed in the semi-finals a little earlier when Bolt had qualified despite easing off with 30 metres to go.

But Bolt was to run no more than three or four strides down that lane in front of him, and he did so in the knowledge that he had make the biggest mistake of his athletics career in leaving his blocks early.

Was it hubris? 

It looked as if he might just have reacted to slight movement to his right – from Blake.

His face now carrying a grimace rather than a smile, the Olympic and former world champion ripped off his shirt and threw it to the ground before weaving aimlessly towards and beyond the start, a bundle of energy, talent and frustration.

He did not know what to do with himself.

Meanwhile a swarm of photographers who had been expecting to take the victory shots at the other end were scurrying down the infield towards him.

Suddenly the man who loved to be the centre of attention just wanted the world to go away.

The noise in the stadium when Bolt blundered was extraordinary, mingling dismay and disbelief.

So the field returned to the blocks - with one yawning gap.

For about 40 metres, it seemed an incredible night was about to get even more unbelievable as Collins, the world champion of 2003, floated off to a great start.


But Blake, as Bolt himself has said, is "a beast", with a time of 9.80c already to his name, and there was no denying him over the final 60 metres.

Christophe Lemaitre, France's European champion, was fourth in 10.19.

Bolt was not the only 100 metres runner to false-start on the night – Britain's Dwain Chambers also took an early walk after leaving the blocks too early in his semi-final.

It was a thoroughly gripping, if unexpected night of athletics in the Daegu Stadium.

Earlier, the crowd had witnessed a fascinating 10,000m race in which Farah, having made a break for home with 450 metres remaining, had been hunted down in the final 15 metres by the one Ethiopian he could not crack – Ibrahim Jeilan, who finished in 27min 13.81sec, to Farah's 27:14.07.

Farah had tracked the leaders throughout a fluctuating race, always keeping himself in touch.

The pace proved too much after 12 laps for the defending champion Kenenisa Bekele, taking advantage of his wild card to make an unlikely return to the track after a 14 months absence through injury.

But after Bekele had trotted off, there remained three top class Ethiopians in the chase, including last year's Samsung Diamond League winner Imane Merga and the redoubtable Zerseney Tadese of Eritrea, who led for most of the race.

When Farah broke for home, with Jeilan and Merga in pursuit, it seemed he was about to extend his extraordinary winning run to take his first global title.

Coming around the final bend, Merga was dropped, but Jeilan - leggy as Farah and more powerful in build - was still in touch.


Farah's face was desperate as the Ethiopian came past him but he had no time or energy to respond.

"I saw with 100 to go he was there, but my legs just couldn't give me any more," Farah said.

"I thought I had the speed to win the race. I ran a 53-second last lap and I gave it 110 per cent, but it just wasn't enough."

He had to settle for being the first Briton to win a 10,000m medal at the World Championships.

Perhaps he will have even more to smile about in a year's time...

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]