Paris: Usain Bolt gave athletics the boost it so desperately needed when he won an unprecedented Olympic sprint treble in world record times in Beijing.

With former 100m world record holder Tim Montgomery and former five-time Olympic medallist Marion Jones languishing in jail, the Jamaican came into his own at the magnificent "Bird's Nest" stadium in the Chinese capital.

In front of capacity crowds of almost 90,000,Bolt won gold in the 100m and 200m (in 9.69sec and 19.30sec) and then ran the third leg of Jamaica's 4x100m relay team, which also set a new world record.

"Everyone will be gunning for me, but that will only push me to do better," said Bolt, for whom the next major event on the calendar is the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in August 2009.

Bolt and Russia's polevault queen Yelena Isinbayeva were confirmed as IAAF athletes of the year for 2008.

"He is invincible," said IAAF president Lamine Diack when asked to describe Bolt, who became the third sprinter in succession to win the best athlete award after compatriot Asafa Powell (2006) and America's Tyson Gay (2007).

Isinbayeva held the Bird's Nest stadium enthralled when she defended her Olympic title with a world record 5.05m.

Other athletes to shine were Ethiopian middle-distance stars Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba, who remarkably both won double gold in the men's and women's 5000m and 10,000m events.

Kenya's Pamela Jelimo scooped the Golden League million-dollar jackpot, winning all six 800m races over the season.