Usain Bolt did not let anyone spoil his party.
Bolt's countryman and training partner, Yohan Blake, gave it his best shot. But, in the end, Bolt remains the guest of honor on the track at the London Olympics just as was in 2008 at the Beijing Games.
Running the 200 meters in a blistering 19.32 seconds, the 25-year-old Jamaican track star won his second consecutive gold medal in the event. Blake won the silver, crossing in 19.44 seconds, with the bronze going to Warren Weir, also of Jamaica, in a time of 19.84 seconds.
"It's what I came here to do," Bolt said after winning the 200 meters, via The New York Times. "I'm now a legend. I'm also the greatest athlete to live."
Bolt is the first man to win two Olympic titles in the 200. He's also the first man to twice sweep the 100 and the 200. And he's been telling us all week that he was going to pull it off.
CLICK HERE for complete results from 200m final
After repeating as gold medalist in the 100 meters, Bolt let everyone know, including Blake, that he'd be taking the 200 as well.
"I've told Yohan Blake that 200 meters will be different, because that's my signature event," Bolt told reporters after winning his first gold medal at the London Olympics. "I'm not going to let him beat me again. I've said that to him already."
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PHOTOS: Usain Bolt At 2012 Olympics
Blake's shock victory over Bolt in the 200 meters (and the 100) at the Jamaican Olympic Trials just weeks before the London Games began had every sprinter bound for London thinking they had a chance.
Even after finishing behind both Bolt and Blake in the 100 meter final, U.S. sprinter Justin Gatlin proclaimed that the rangy 6'5" world-record holder was "beatable."
In the semifinal heats of the 200 meters, Blake finished with the fastest qualifying time (20.01 seconds), followed quickly by U.S. sprinter Wallace Spearmon (20.02). Bolt's 20.38 was just the fifth best time of the three semifinal heats but he was clearly not going all out.
"That's why we are racing," said Spearmon before the 200 final. "If they weren't beatable, they would just hand them medals, and we'd race for third."
As it turns out, Spearmon and the runners not from Jamaica were just racing for fourth.
Spearmon grabbed that fourth spot but no medal despite a personal season's best time of 19.90 seconds. Bolt and Blake also posted season's best time, while Weir's mark was a personal best.
Despite how easy he has made it look at times during the 2008 and '12 Olympics, Bolt knew that he faced a field intent on doing all it could to unseat him.
"There's a lot of people there who have come to spoil the party," Bolt told reporters before the final, "so we'll see."
We have seen. So has Bolt, who looked over his left shoulder to check on Blake's pursuit as he strode toward the finish line. Putting his finger to his lips as if to quiet the roaring crowd at Olympic Stadium, Bolt eased across the line with a calm belying the historic nature of his accomplishment.
"I did it at the trials and he wanted to get me back," Blake told The Associated Press after the race, explaining Bolt's gesture. "So he got me back."
After a cameo appearance at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Bolt has now competed in five events combined at the London and Beijing Games. He has won five gold medals and established nearly as many records. In 2008, Bolt won gold medals in the 100, 200 and 4x100 relay. Thus far, he's repeated in the 100 and 200 in London.
Despite Bolt's bold post-race proclamation about his status as the greatest athlete ever to live, IOC President Jacques Rogge doesn't think anyone should be talking about his legacy just yet.
"Let him participate in three, four games, and he can be a legend," Rogge said before the 200 meter final. "Already he's an icon."
What do you think?
Whether it makes more sense to call Bolt an icon or a legend may still be up for debate but it's getting harder to call him "beatable," at least when an Olympic medal is on the line.