When the dust settled on Usain Bolt's stunning world championships victory over two-time doping offender Justin Gatlin in the men's 100 metres, the natural order of athletics remained intact - just. Olympic chief Thomas Bach was quick to congratulate Bolt, who had barely completed his lap of honour in Beijing on Sunday, dancing and striking poses with the Jamaican flag draped over his shoulders like a superhero's cape. It is hard to imagine that Bach, a supporter of lifetime bans for doping, would have been quite so happy had Gatlin controversially ended Bolt's reign as the world's fastest man. Bolt's ruthless takedown of Gatlin was a close-run thing. The Jamaican clocked 9.79 seconds in the final, just one hundredth quicker than his American rival - the finest of margins, but enough to bolster the crisis-hit sport's credibility. His victory would have been warmly welcomed by athletics chiefs, who have been under heavy fire over doping and were uneasy at the prospect of Gatlin being crowned the world 100m champion. As allegations of widespread doping engulfed athletics in the build-up to Beijing, newly elected IAAF president Sebastian Coe, who has promised zero tolerance for drug cheats, admitted a Gatlin victory would make him feel "queasy."
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