Former record-holder Leroy Burrell set a new personal best of 9.88secs, while Linford Christie, who slashed his European record by 0.05secs to 9.92secs finished only fourth.

The Brit even talked of retirement, baffled that he could run faster than at any time in his life and fail to win a medal. Even the times of the fifth and sixth men bear comparison to the best today - Frankie Fredericks clocked 9.95secs, while Ray Stewart ran 9.96secs.

To add to the drama, two sobering facts emerged in the days that followed.

Third-placed American Dennis Mitchell was revealed to have recorded a reaction time off the blocks of 0.09secs, under the 0.10secs false start limit set for the automatic recall of athletes. By that yardstick the race should have been called back. Then the Tokyo track was shown to be harder than IAAF rules allowed, giving the sprinters another illegal advantage.