Bob Marley and pre-race antics in Beijing

• There’s nowhere private.

In order to make the World Championships experience more entertaining between the events, the cameras dangling over the field at the Bird’s Nest stadium zoom in on selected spectators. If there is a couple - a man and a woman - they are urged to give each other a kiss. If there are some men or two women together, they’re asked to give each other a hug. Everyone obliges and everyone cheers. Bless.

• Why run on time when you can run late.

The men’s 100 metres final was supposed to begin at 9.15pm. The nine finalists were out well before that to do their last warm-ups. But the organisers decided to throw in some pre-race antics.

Out came a pianist who took an absurdly long time to limber up his fingers. He then plunged them onto the keyboard and dextrously performed some arpeggios while the giant scoreboards showed a clock. The music stopped after 9.58 seconds. The crowd was told that the time up on the screens was Usain Bolt’s world record for the 100 metres.

Everybody cheered and the cameras (as mentioned above) homed in on the Jamaican as he trod around in his lane. He gave a sheepish smile. It was a reminder of halcyon days when he sped away from opponents for fun. Injury and that old leveller - age - have pestered Bolt and he wasn’t the favourite going into the impending race. It can’t have done his nerves any good.

But it must have hotwired Justin Gatlin. The man who had consistently run during the season under 9.80 seconds, finished in 9.80 seconds. Bolt ran to gold with 9.79 – having perhaps been reminded of better times.

• If one of your own can’t win then an adopted son will do just as nicely.

Bingtian Su holds the Chinese record for the 100 metres. He is the first local hero to run under 10 seconds. Naturally when his name was called just before the 100 metres final, there was a huge roar in the Bird’s Nest. For everyone else there was a polite round of applause.

The American Tyson Gay got a cheer from the locals; so too Justin Gatlin. Usain Bolt was accorded an ovation as hearty as the one afforded Bingtian. The 25-year-old may be the hope of all China but he was running with the big dogs on day 2. He came last in the final with a mark of 10.06 seconds. But at least one of their own won the race.

• It’s so biased. They did this in Moscow and they’re doing it in Beijing.

Two years ago at the world championships in Moscow, every time a Jamaican athlete came out, the music system at the Luzhniki stadium would pump out the Bob Marley ditty Three Little Birds. It has a chirpy refrain which goes along the lines of: “Don’t worry ‘bout a thing …cos every little thing’s gonna be alright ...” And it is catchy. Very catchy. We can still trill it as we weave wonderful words. Yes, they are. Anyway. Our point was: how comes the Jamaicans received such special privileges?

We know it is a lovely island but why didn’t the Americans get some Bruce Springsteen belting out Born in the USA? Not enough of a significant issue for the review to take someone to task. But that was then. This is now. When Bolt won … out came Bob Marley’s One Love and then Jimmy Cliff’s You Can Get It If You Really Want. Great songs, both.

But the DJ was notably absent when Britain’s Jessica Ennis-Hill was doing her lap of honour following her victory in the women’s heptathlon and there was no sound acknowledgement for the prodigious feats of the American Mike Kovacs in the men’s shot putt. There was no polka for Pavel Fajdek, the Polish victor of the hammer. If London does the same thing in two years – and if we’re there – the review will investigate.

• It’s all about fractions within 10 seconds.

Eight of the nine finalists in the men’s 100 metres finished in 10 seconds or less. The only man outside the mark was China’s Bingtian Su and he has run 9.99. The review was in Beijing seven years ago for the Olympic Games when Usain Bolt won his first gold medal. We remember saying a matter of seconds into the live commentary: “He’s gone.” Bolt had surged away between 30 and 60 metres and was easing up as he reached the finishing line. Richard Thompson in the press conference later said: “I could see Usain in the distance slowing down while I was still pumping away.”

Thompson added that he knew he couldn’t win the race that he had started so the best he could do was not worry about that but try to come first in the race that was left. He did that and went back home to Trinidad with the silver. While Bolt eulogised his diet of chicken nuggets, Thompson’s review at that press conference was instructive.

We were reminded of it as Bolt raced to glory in the 100 metres on day 2. Injuries have blighted his season forcing him to pull out of a couple of warm-up events. Justin Gatlin has been the form king of the season. Bolt’s coach Glenn Mills told his pupil just before the showdown on day 2 that he would have to run 100 metres to win the course. Gatlin leaned forward a tad too much after 95 metres and briefly lost his balance. He finished in 9.80 and Bolt, heeding the advice of his mentor, in 9.79. So are legends enhanced.