Simply put, tonight’s men’s 100 metre final was the finest ever in Olympic history. Never have the medals been decided by such a narrow margin, and never has a field been laden with such a concentration of talent. And emerging from the fiercely fought battle with his armour intact was American Justin Gatlin.

Propelled by the most powerful finish displayed anywhere this year, the 22-year-old reached the line in 9.85. Fittingly for one of the finest races in history, it was a personal best, the fastest in the world this year while making Gatlin the fifth fastest sprinter of all time. Just 1/100 of a second behind was Francis Obikwelu of Portugal, who in turn edged defending champion Maurice Greene by the same margin. Claiming the unenviable fourth spot was Shawn Crawford, whose 9.89 performance would have won all but two previous Olympic titles. In Athens, it wasn’t enough for even a medal.

After the slowest start of the field, Gatlin quickly regrouped, first catching his training partner Crawford, then running even with Greene, Obikwelu and reigning World champion Kim Collins.  Crawford briefly surged at 60 metres, but both Gatlin and the Portuguese held him off, as did Greene, running near the outside in lane 7. Never has a finish been closer.

Obikwelu’s silver-medal winning effort eclipsed the European record shared by Britons Linford Christie and Dwain Chambers, while Greene’s 9.87 equalled his gold medal peformance from Sydney.

Jamaican Asafa Powell couldn’t match the power he displayed in the earlier rounds, and finished a distant fifth in 9.94, while Collins, who led early on, faded to sixth in 10.00, a season’s best.

Even the lead up was as entertaining and dramatic as the race itself. With Greece’s national song, “Zorba’s Theme,” blasting through the capacity-filled stadium, slowly building to its well-known crescendo, the crowd danced, sang and rejoiced, sensing that the event was more than the battle for the title of the “World’s Fastest Man”: it was a profound and unforgettable celebration.

But there’s more to come from Gatlin and Company. He, Obikwelu and Crawford will all contest the 200 as well.

With no surprises emerging from the semifinal round, tonight’s final of the men’s 100 metre dash will feature an almost exclusive battle between the sprint powers of the United States and the Caribbean.

A false start by 2002 World Cup champion Uchenna Emedolu made for a tense start in the first heat, but Americans Shawn Crawford and Justin Gatlin, lined up side-by-side in lanes three and four, quickly dashed off any butterflies. Gatlin was clearly ahead at 20 metres, but Crawford, the World leader at 9.88, took over for good just three strides later. With their 1-2 finish assured, the training partners ran the final 15 metres looking at each other, as if planning in advance their next race that will take place in less than two hours. Crawford reached the line in 10.07, with Gatlin 2/100s of a second behind.

Ghanaian Aziza Zakari was off to the fastest start, and maintained that speed until advancement was evident. He was clocked in 10.11, well ahead of defending bronze medallist Obadale Thompson’s 10.22. The Barbadian, who finished 6/100s ahead of Briton Mark Lewis-Francis, will contest his second straight Olympic final.

Heat two, the second head-to-head between Asafa Powell and Maurice Greene in as many days, was extremely tight, and unlike yesterday, everyone was forced to run to the line. The reigning Olympic champion was the quickest from the blocks, but the young Jamaican, who beat Greene in their last two races, took command by 60 metres. Overcoming a sluggish start, Francis Obikwelu rapidly made up ground running on Powell’s right, pushing the Jamaican to a 9.95, win, 2/100s clear of the Portuguese. Greene was third, credited with a 9.97 as well.

Rounding into perfectly-timed peak form, World champion Kim Collins looked extremely relaxed en route to his 10.02 fourth place finish, a season’s best.

In the final, the 28-year-old from St. Kitts drew lane one, the same lane in which he won his world title.

With precious little beyond a top three finish ensuring advancement to tomorrow’s semi-finals, fast times were a virtual certainty in the quarter-finals of the men’s 100 metres. With five men turning in sub-10 second performances, the capacity crowd at Olympic Stadium was treated to a stellar performance by some of the athletics world’s most entertaining performers.

Francis Obikwelu began the show with a scorching 9.93 win in the first heat, improving on his previous best of 9.97 set four years ago. The 27-year-old Portuguese, who prepped for Athens with a double sprint win at the Gaz de France last month, was the picture of grace and control throughout the race, easing up considerably in the final 20 meters as he looked to his right and to his left to see if anyone was nearby. Nobody was.

“Today has been fantastic for me,” Obikwelu said. “If you make the final, nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

Dwight Thomas of Jamaica was a distant second in 10.12, just ahead of Mark Lewis-Francis, credited with the same time. It was the second seasonal best for the 21-year-old Briton today. “A lot of people expected me to phase out by now, but I’m still here,” Lewis-Francis said.

Not one to be outdone, world leader Shawn Crawford had an answer to Obikwelu’s surprising performance, with a scintillating 9.89 of his own. Crawford’s performance, a mere 1/100 of a second from his world-leading time, is the second fastest ever quarter-final performance. Only Ato Boldon’s 9.87, ran at the 1997 World Championships in the same stadium, has been faster.

Here too, nobody else was close. Obadale Thompson of Barbados was second in 10.12, with Vicente de Lima of Brazil, who bounced back from a false start, third (10.26).

In race three, it was Crawford’s training partner Justin Gatlin’s turn. Trailing Jason Gardener at the midway point, the 22-year-old Gatlin threw in a mid-race surge to forge ahead for good en route to a 9.96 win. Gardener edged Uchenna Emedolu of Nigeria for second, with both clocking 10.15.

“I ran fast and smooth,” said Gatlin. “I’m just concentrating on each race to the finals. I think I will be in two more great races.”

Aziz Zakari held off World champion Kim Collins’ strong second half to win heat four, 10.02 to 10.05, a season’s best for Collins. Michael Frater of Jamaica got the third automatic spot, clocking 10.11.

“I had a few bad races prior to Athens, but now it looks good,” said Collins. “It suits me not to have all the pressure on me.”

The evening’s theatrics reached their crescendo in the fifth and final heat, won by defending champion Maurice Greene in 9.93, ahead of Asafa Powell’s 9.99. But the performances were deceiving. The upstart Jamaican, the embodiment of “Island Cool,” was already in shut down mode just 60 meters into the race. Glancing at Greene to his left, the 21-year-old was content to let the U.S. champion pass, and eased considerably, but still dipping under ten seconds. Leonard Myles-Mills was a distant third (10.18).

Ronald Pognon of France, fourth in heat four in 10.15, advanced on time, edging veteran Frank Fredericks by just 2/100s of a second.

World leader Shawn Crawford led all qualifiers in the first round of the men ’s 100 metres as the contest for the “World’s Fastest Man” commenced in Olympic Stadium.

Crawford, who will also contest the 200m next week, won heat four in 10.02, perhaps the fastest performance ever by a sprinter donning a baseball cap. The 26-year-old American, also the World leader this year in the longer dash, held off Sydney bronze medallist Obadele Thompson’s 10.08. It was the fastest performance for the man from Barbados in more than a year. Finishing third was Matic Osovnikar, who lowered the Slovenian national record to 10.15.

Few surprises emerged from the morning’s ten heats, while several key players began competition with notably quick performances.

Frank Fredericks began the proceedings with a comfortable 10.12 win in heat one, a full tenth of a second ahead of Nigerian Uchenna Emedolu, the 2002 World Cup champion. It was the fastest short dash by the 36-year-old Namibian, already a four-time Olympic medallist, in more than a year.

Taking heat two was Briton Mark Lewis-Francis in 10.13, the quickest of the year for the 21-year-old. Easing up considerably after 70 meters, he finished 6/100s ahead of Ghanaian Aziz Zakari, the winner this year at Rome’ s Golden Gala and Stockholm’s DN Galan.

Asafa Powell took the lead in heat seven just ten metres into the race and never looked back - though he spent much of the race looking to his side - en route to a solid 10.06 win, the second-fastest of the morning. World Indoor champion Jason Gardener, still on the mend after undergoing a double hernia operation last spring, improved his season’s best by 7/100s with his runner-up 10.15 finish.

Heat three was a close contest between Justin Gatlin and Kareem Streete-Thompson for the initial 60 metres, until the American pulled away to win in 10.07 to the Cayman Islander’s season’s best 10.15. Gatlin, who trains with Crawford, will also contest the longer sprint next week.

“It was about the easiest 100m run in my life,” said Gatlin. “I’ve never competed here but, coming here, I had a strong feeling I have been here before. The track, the crowd, the stadium, they all felt familiar.”

Relaxed from the outset, Portuguese record holder Francis Obikwelu won the fifth heat in 10.09, well ahead of Frenchman Ronald Pognon’s 10.18.

World champion Kim Collins cruised to an easy 10.11 win in the tenth and final heat, just a hair off his seasonal best 10.10. Jamaican Michael Frater was a distant second in 10.20.

“I tried to take this race really easily but I couldn’t,” said Collins. “I didn’t want to run that fast. If I had a couple of bad races earlier in this season they don’t mean anything anymore.”

Defending champion Maurice Greene won the eighth heat in 10.18, but to advance to the second round unscathed, had to fight off a challenge by Jamaican Dwight Thomas (10.21) and the unknown Churandy Martina of Netherlands Antilles (10.23).

“I feel great to be back,” said Greene. “I have been so anxious to get these races starting. Now they have started, there’s nothing stopping me now. Athens is a good place for me and I will prove it.”

Running against a 1.4 mps wind, the ninth heat was the slowest, with Nigerian Deji Aliu nipping Canada’s Nicolas Macrozonaris, 10.39 to 10.40. Heat six, won by Japan’s Nobuharu Asahara (10.33) over Pole Lukasz Chyla (10.35) produced modest results as well.

The top three in each heat and the next ten fastest advanced to this evening’s quarter-finals.

Leading the list of notable non-qualifiers was Ato Boldon of Trinidad, a winner of four individual Olympic medals. He was a distant fourth in heat six, with his 10.41 well off the 10.34 qualifying bubble. Briton Darren Campbell, the Sydney 200 bronze medallist, was even closer. His 10.35 from heat one missed the cut-off by a mere 1/100 of a second.