Aug 21, 2009, 8:05 GMT
Berlin - As Usain Bolt came out of the bend and tore effortlessly ahead of his competitors, the whole crowd burst out in shrieks and whoops.
Usain Bolt of Jamaica (L) celebrate after winning the 200m final with New World Record at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Berlin, Germany, 20 August 2009 EPA/KERIM OKTEN
The Jamaican sprint superstar - who turns 23 on Friday - set a new world record of 19.19 seconds in the men's 200m final.
A large group of spectators from all around the world stood raptured in front of the screens by the Brandenburg Gate in downtown Berlin.
Having stayed away for most of the day - many blamed the sweltering 37-degree highs Berlin is experiencing - a crowd of several hundred assembled toward the evening to watch the athletics on large television screens.
As part of the world championships, the German capital is hosting a week of cultural events at the so-called Culture Stadium in the spirit of fun and friendly competition.
Earlier, spectators had to put up with a rather tedious cookery show onstage, with the athletics only being shown on small screens.
Neither the chef nor the moderator onstage seemed to notice or care about the whistles, jeers and shouts of 'Get off!'
The Germans present - who made up the majority of what was nevertheless a thoroughly international crowd - had come not only to see Bolt, but also to cheer one of their stars, high jumper Ariane Friedrich.
Whenever Friedrich stood ready to jump, then took her run-up, the crowd would clap in unison and cheer.
Some couldn't believe the tactlessness and inflexibility of the organizers for allowing the cooking show to continue despite the protests.
'This is meant to be a World Championship,' one bystander muttered. 'But the atmosphere is being fried onstage on a low flame, well-done.'
When finally the cookery show was swiftly wrapped up, the crowd erupted in cheers.
Not everyone present was so irate. Santiago, an Ecuadoran who has lived in Berlin for 10 years, was very impressed by the KulturStadion: 'There's something here for everyone.'
The crowd was nothing like the 2006 football World Cup in Germany, when 500,000 people sprawled around the Brandenburg Gate every day.
But it was certainly an improvement from a week ago, when during the opening ceremony of the Athletics World Championships on July 14 only a couple of hundred more-or-less disinterested people milled about.
Vendors in the KulturStadion said it had been a relatively quiet week, but that business had been good in the evenings when more people turned up to see performances on stage, which included such acts as A-Ha of Norway and the Blue Man Group from the United States.
Yet at the start of the 200m men's race, 19.19 seconds before Bolt strolled across the finishing line ahead of all the others, the silence and tension was so thick one could feel it in the sultry summer air.
If, as the German television moderator said, Bolt is really the 'spirit of these games,' it could be felt in the KulturStadion.
Makaveli, who had come specially from Kingston, Jamaica, to cheer his team, called Bolt 'a very normal guy: so fast, so simple, but so good. He says, 'I know I can make it,' and he makes it. When you believe in yourself, you can bring down a mountain.'
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