BEIJING -- With the spotlight shining brightly on American Tyson Gay and Jamaicans Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell entering the first round of 100-meter qualifying at the Olympic Games, the only question was where they would place on the medal stand following Saturday’s final. LSU senior Richard Thompson was an afterthought, despite lining up with the fifth-fastest time in the world of all the 100-meter sprinters in Beijing. But after cruising through three rounds of qualifying while matching his personal best with a time of 9.93 seconds in Saturday’s semifinal round, Thompson returned to the track two hours later and took his mark in lane five with Bolt to his left and American Walter Dix to his right. Powell also qualified for the final after beating Thompson to the finish line in 9.91 seconds in the semifinal round, but Gay, still bothered by a hamstring injury suffered at the U.S. Olympic Trials in July, failed to advance after finishing fifth in Thompson’s heat with a time of 10.05. The stage was set for a dramatic conclusion to perhaps the most anticipated 100-meter final in the history of the Olympic Games, and Thompson did not disappoint. While wearing the colors red and black and the name of Trinidad and Tobago proudly across his chest, Thompson was the first in the eight-man field to fire out of the blocks with a 0.133 reaction time and raced to the finish line with a new personal best of 9.89 to win the silver medal for both his country and LSU in his Olympic Games debut. (Complete results) Thompson kept pace with Bolt for the first 50 meters of the race, but the 22-year-old Jamaican ran away from the rest of the field over the last 50 meters to become the first man in the history of the sport to break 9.70, shattering his own world record in the event with an easy 9.69. Bolt even slowed down at the finish to celebrate Jamaica’s first gold medal in the prestigious race. Bolt broke the record of 9.72 he set back on May 31 at New York’s Reebok Grand Prix in just his fifth career 100-meter race. Dix (9.91) won bronze, while Powell (9.95) finished in fifth. With his performance, Thompson becomes LSU’s first ever medalist in the 100-meter dash and is the school’s second individual Olympic medalist in the sprint events all-time after former Tiger standout Derrick Brew won a bronze medal in the 400-meter dash in Athens four years ago. He also puts his name alongside the likes of national heroes Hasley Crawford and Ato Boldon as the only sprinters from Trinidad and Tobago to medal in the 100-meter dash in the 112-year history of the modern Olympic Games. Crawford won the gold medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, while Boldon took home the bronze in Atlanta in 1996 and the silver in Sydney in 2000. “I’m so proud of Richard and all that he has been able to accomplished this year,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “This truly is the result of four years of hard work and dedication on his part to get to where he is today. He is a young man who is certainly deserving of this great honor, and it’s amazing to think that his career in this sport is just beginning.” While warming-up for the final, Shaver said Thompson’s focus was on getting out to a fast start in order to put pressure on the rest of the field. He certainly accomplished his goal. “Richard ran two outstanding races today,” Shaver said. “Although he ran a fast time in the semi, his reaction time was slow because he was instructed to play it safe and stay in the blocks an extra split second after someone in the field had a false start. But he really got out quick in the final and executed his race to perfection. That was as good as I’ve ever seen him run. “It just shows the kind of maturity Richard has to line up beside the best sprinters in the world and have the kind of confidence in himself that he can get it done. He’s an Olympic medalist, and no one will ever be able to take that away from him.” American standout and LSU great Muna Lee continued her chase for Olympic glory on Saturday as she advanced to the semifinal round of the women’s 100-meter dash at the National Stadium. (Complete results) Lee easily won her first-round heat in 11.33 and cruised into the semifinal with a runner-up finish in her quarterfinal race (11.08), where the top-three finishers advanced to a two-heat semifinal set to begin on Sunday at 6:53 a.m. CT. Lee is a gold-medal contender in the event as the women’s 100-meter final will also be held Sunday with a start time of 9:25 a.m. CT. Former Lady Tiger stars Kelly Baptiste of Trinidad and Tobago and Sherry Fletcher of Grenada were unable to advance to the semifinals of the 100-meter dash. Baptiste, who finished runner-up in her first-round race with a time of 11.39, finished sixth in her quarterfinal heat and 22nd overall in her Olympic debut after crossing the finish line in 11.42. Fletcher failed to advance beyond the first round of qualifying by a mere one one-hundredth of a second after finishing fifth in her opening heat with a time of 11.65. Two other former LSU standouts saw their Olympic dream come to an end in the semifinal round of their respective events as Isa Phillips of Jamaica finished ninth in the men’s 400-meter hurdles and Neisha Bernard-Thomas of Grenada finished 21st in the women’s 800-meter run. (Complete Results) Phillips was one spot out of qualifying for the eight-man final after crossing the finish line in fifth place in his heat with a time of 48.85, while Bernard-Thomas was seventh in her heat in 2:01.84. (Complete results).