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The secret weapon behind sprint sensation Usain Bolt's incredible Olympic 100metres triumph has been revealed as . . . a diet of chicken nuggets and yams.

Bolt became the fastest human ever when he won gold smashing his own world record in an unforgettable showboating performance.

Jamaican Bolt, 21, was so far ahead of his rivals he coolly slowed up in the last 30 metres, looked over his shoulder and beat his chest Tarzan-style before crossing the line.

And experts were last asking how fast the man dubbed Lightning Bolt could run if he decided to go hell-for-leather until the finish line.

After the race Bolt gave the credit for his incredible stamina not to a scientific high-protein regime meticulously planned by a team of dieticians - but plenty of chicken nuggets.

He said: "I woke around 11am and decided to watch some TV and had some nuggets.

"Then I slept for a couple of hours more. Then I got some more nuggets and came to the track." Bolt's diet is typical of his laidback attitude summed up by the slogan on his nation's yellow and green strip that reads "Jamaica - No Problem."

As the athletes lined up for Saturday's 100metres, most looked tense.

But the reggae-loving Bolt did a little dance then fired an imaginary arrow into the crowd as his name was announced.

He said afterwards: "I like to to do that for the crowd. I just love dancing.

"You have to enjoy yourself to stay relaxed. When I made that gesture going over the line, I was just having fun. That is just me. I didn't even know I'd beaten the record until after the lap of honour."

Millions watched Bolt's triumph on TV. And no one was cheering him on harder than dad Wellesley back home in the quiet village of Sherwood Content. Yesterday proud Wellesley insisted his son's path to gold had been powered by a regular diet of yams when he was a boy.

He said Bolt, who is also hoping for Olympic gold in the 200metres and the 100 metres relay, loved the starchy vegetable as a child and insisted it helped build up his 6ft 5ins frame.

Wellesley insists he had no doubt his son would triumph in Beijing on Saturday. He said: "Once he got going I knew they were not gonna catch him."

Experts are convinced Bolt will dominate sprinting for a decade - and believe he will run even faster than the 9.69 that shaved three hundredths of a second off his previous world record.

Scott Drawer, UK Sport's head of research, said: "Usain has a very different body to that of traditional 100m sprinters. It's rare to see someone so tall.

"It means he is a lot slower out of the blocks but once he is up to speed his long legs and his superior stride length is a very important factor that gives him a major advantage. He's got a huge amount of natural talent and you could tell he could have run even faster in that race.

"It remains to be seen how many more tenths of a second he will shave off his own record. It's hard to say just how fast he can go."