We can only speculate. He is far too polished a sprinter to do something like this. Remember in 1988 when they called Ben for a false start in the semis? It wasn’t actually a false start, but a great reaction. In the next start, Ben held back and then caught everyone mid-race and blew by them. Bolt’s situation is far different. He could have done the same thing – held back in the blocks and still have qualified easily.
My thought is that he didn’t want to run that race. Why? Who knows. Perhaps there is so much pressure for him to produce World Record performances, he’d rather wait until 2012. But, as everyone has commented, he was a run away favourite to win. Maybe he didn’t want to win like that (with Powell and Gay out). Then, there are the sinister scenarios that we won’t discuss.
But it certainly has tarnished the marquee event at the WC’s.