Olympic 100 metres champion Usain Bolt.- file

Richard Thompson knows the crack of a starter's pistol. He expects the loud roar of big stadium crowds.

But the 'whoosh' of Usain Bolt blasting by him in the 100 metres final at last year's Olympics in Beijing was completely new to Trinidad and Tobago's star sprinter. And nearly nine months later, the sound and amazement are still fresh in his mind.

"It was kinda like a full bus passing you," said Thompson wide-eyed, a day after competing at the Jamaica International Invitational in Kingston.

"He just shot off."

Bolt's acceleration swept the Jamaican to a world record 9.69 seconds and the gold medal. It also downgraded Thompson's ultimate Olympic dream to silver.

But up to the point of Bolt's burst, the 2008 Olympic Games had been as close to perfection for Thompson as he could have imagined. His preparation, fuelled by a steady diet of 200-metre races while competing at his United States college, put him in the best shape of his life, especially to survive the early rounds.

underdog

Yet, Thompson carried the underdog tag into the 100 final. Bolt held the world record. Jamaica's Asafa Powell, a former world-record holder, had run faster than Thompson many times. Plus Powell had beaten him in the semi-final. But Thompson was primed for more than being just another lane assignment.

"When I was on the line, I was very confident," he explained, "and I was saying, you know, I'm gonna put my best foot forward and, hopefully, it'll bring me the gold medal."

It showed in his approach to the starting blocks. While millions of eyes worldwide fixed on eight men and the stretch of track they would cover in 10 seconds or less, the 23-year-old bounced around as if he was about to settle a score with old friends at a picnic in hometown Cascade, Port-of-Spain.

"Anyone who knows me, knows that I thrive off of things like that," Thompson said.

He definitely was not scared. Thompson believed he had already run his toughest race in the semi-final. But Bolt had run faster in Beijing and Thompson knew. Although he had not seen any of his preliminary races, he was told how ridiculously easy Bolt looked, "literally jogging from about 60 metres" while winning the semi- final in 9.85. Still, the 23-year-old Trinidadian wasn't perturbed.

best start

"Everyone expected me to get the bronze medal," he said. "But ... as fast as Bolt had run all year and as fast as Asafa had run all year, my mentality going into the race was that I was going to win."

By the end of the first third of the race to decide the world's fastest human, nothing had changed his mind.

"The gun goes off and I have the best start I have ever had in my life," Thompson recalled. "I'm in front for 30 metres. Bolt isn't too far behind me ... I'm executing the race perfectly.

"I go all the way to 30 metres and I'm driving," he added, sounding as if he still couldn't believe his Olympic fortune. "I come up slowly, relaxed and everything, and generating power at the same time."

Running in lane five, Thompson was on target to pull off perhaps the most stunning upset in track and field history. But then perfection, confronted by a rush of 6' 5" power and speed that bounded up on Thompson's left in lane four, deserted him.

"I just feel Usain pull up at the side," said the Trinidadian.

In a blink, Bolt was gone.

"Within 10 metres, between 40 to 50, I could just feel him separate himself so quickly," said Thompson.

He burst into laughter, shaking his head from side to side.

"It's the most crazy thing I've ever seen in my entire life," Thompson eventually said.

A handful of seconds since he last harboured thoughts of a spot on the top podium, Thompson's priorities abruptly changed.

"At that point I wasn't even fooling myself," he admitted. "I knew the race was over. I knew the gold medal was gone unless (Bolt) had got injured or he had fallen."

That probably wouldn't have helped much either.

"If he had fallen he may still have beaten us," said Thompson, who earned another silver as part of T&T's 4x100 relay team which was beaten by Jamaica's world record run.

"That's how far ahead he was ... Yeah, you're fighting for second place at that point."

The race for silver was another contest altogether. Thompson could feel American Walter Dix looming on his right. So too Powell, a couple lanes over. Everyone was catching up - fast. But he hung on for second in 9.89. Dix, 9.91, finished third; Powell fifth in 9.95. Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles was fourth in 9.93.

nothing better was possible

Silver was not exactly what he dreamed, but after witnessing Bolt's display on August 16, 2008, Thompson is convinced nothing better was possible.

"Losing to Bolt is kinda like winning the race to everyone else," Thompson assured himself. "No, seriously, because really, you step on the line with Usain Bolt, everyone expects you to come nothing other than second because he's expected to win the race."

He knows if Bolt returns in the same form for this summer's IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Germany, the fight for him and the rest of the world's best sprinters will again be for minor medals. Racing against a "full bus" can do that.

"Bolt is extraordinary," said Thompson

Thompson