Bolt coasts into 100m semis

London - In his first appearance at the London Olympics, Usain Bolt did what he had to do to advance to the 100m semi-finals, overcoming a slow start to win his heat in 10.09 seconds on Saturday.

Bolt dominated the Beijing Games four years ago, winning golds in world-record times in the 100, 200 and 4x100 relay - something no man had ever done at an Olympics. At the 2009 world championships, he lowered his 100 mark to 9.58, which still stands.

But he's been less-than-outstanding more recently. A false start knocked him out of the dash at last year's world championships, and he lost to training partner Yohan Blake in the 100m and 200m at the Jamaican Olympic trials.

His reaction time on Saturday was only sixth-best in his eight-man heat.