Mills helped him to regain his self-belief after suffering several injuries.

"I never really doubted, I worried a little bit after two years of injuries," said Bolt, who took his first senior medal last year with a 200m silver at the World Championships.

"However, things changed dramatically when I joined up with Glen."

Bolt placed his faith in Mills with the coach advising on the wisdom of a Beijing sprint double - a feat last achieved by Carl Lewis in Los Angeles at the 1984 Olympics.

His faith in Mills' judgement has been more than repaid here.

"He (Mills) is like a father figure to me. He has never done me any wrong and he has always made the right decisions," said Bolt.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt wins the men's 200m final at the National Stadium at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 20, 2008. Bolt broke the men's 200 metres world record on Wednesday timing 19.30 seconds as he clinched the Olympic Games gold to add to his 100m crown. [Agencies]

"He is a guiding light in my career and he has shown me the way to improve myself both as a person and as an athlete."

Bolt may respect his elders and mentors but he has cracked two of his role models' feats here in the space of five days, first going one better than compatriot Don Quarrie, who had come closest to landing a first Olympic 100m title for Jamaica when he took silver in 1976.

And on Wednesday he went one better as he destroyed Michael Johnson's 200m world record, which the American set in the 1996 Games in Atlanta, by two hundreths of a second.

"This is more than I can handle really, I'm a bit overwhelmed. I didn't think a 200m record was on because I felt tired after the heats," said Bolt after the 200m final.

"But I told everyone I was going to come out here and leave everything on the track and I did just that."

Perhaps the best assessment of Bolt in his present form was made by 2003 100m world champion Kim Collins, who finished well behind him in Wednesday's final.

"He (Bolt) is not human," said the 32-year-old Collins, though, he added "Eventually he'll come back down to earth."

The question for his rivals is, when?

AFP