Usain Bolt: Previewing Star's 200-Meter Gold Medal Chance After Round 1 Heat

Olympic champion Usain Bolt is a lock to run away with the gold medal in the men's 200-meter dash this summer at the 2012 London Olympics.

As expected, the Jamaican track star cruised through the opening round of the men's 200-meter dash at the Games on Tuesday.

Bolt's semifinal-qualifying time of 20.39 seconds was more than a second off the world-record pace he set in the summer of 2009, but it was dominant nonetheless.

Although Bolt will be pitted against some strong sprinters in the coming rounds of the event, including Jamaican teammate Yohan Blake and American Wallace Spearmon, his gold-medal-winning performance in the men's 100-meter dash on Sunday all but dusted off his seat on the men's sprinting throne.

Bolt joined Carl Lewis as the only two men to win back-to-back 100-meter dashes at the Olympic Games, and he can elevate himself to a never-before-seen level in 2012 by becoming the first man ever to win back-to-back 200-meter dashes at the Summer Games.

The 25-year-old is on the verge of winning his fifth Olympic gold medal. Bolt has never settled for anything less than gold at the Olympics, so why start now?

It wouldn't be wrong to say that Bolt is a lock for the podium, because he is, but to think that the world's fastest man isn't the favorite to topple the Olympic record he set four years ago in Beijing is foolish.

Bolt got faster and faster in each round of the men's 200-meter dash in 2008. His opening-round time was 20.64, followed by a 20.29 in Round 2. He then turned it on in the semifinals, finishing in 20.09 to breeze into the final, where he would win going away in a world-record time of 19.30.

Bolt is the favorite in the men's 200-meter dash in London this summer, and for good reason. His decorated history and present output have him primed for another legacy-building gold medal. 

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