His shirt was off as Linford Christie ran his final Olympic 100 meters down Lane 9. He was blowing kisses to the crowd and his time was at least 10 seconds slower than the world record set by Donovan Bailey of Canada moments earlier.

It was a sad, bizarre conclusion for Britain's greatest sprinter, who had become the oldest Olympic 100-meter champion four years ago at Barcelona. Now 36, Christie was going to need his fastest start Saturday night to overtake the favorites, Frankie Fredericks of Namibia, who trains with Christie, and Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago, who was kneeling alongside Christie.

Christie false-started from Lane 2, for which he accepted full blame. This was followed by a false-start from Boldon, 14 years Christie's junior. After Christie returned to the starting line, he glared half-lidded down the straight lane ahead as he always does, his right shoulder withdrawn slightly, his pose sculpted — but unusually not relaxed. The statue was breathing hard.

He knelt and was off with the gun, the perfect start. Then the gun fired again. Christie had been disqualified. "For the first time in my life," he said later. "There were cameras flashing, people shouting, it was mayhem. You react to any noise you hear. I'm just sorry for the people of Britain."