The 100-meter sprint may be over in a flash, but it's the race that can define a news agency's entire coverage of an Olympics.

So the preparation is long and meticulous.

Tony Hicks, AP's regional photo editor for Europe and Africa, admits he had "a few butterflies" in the runup to Sunday night's men's final, but said: "That shows you care, it shows you're completely focused."

Here's how we lined up on the night and how fast we were out of the blocks:

— As well as 18 photographers, AP had 20 remote cameras placed in every imaginable shooting position. Photo editors handled 17Gb of photos, or roughly 3,500 frames. These also had to be captioned and transmitted.

— Each photographer was given an individual brief. The key positions — head-on, overhead and infield — knew what they had to do.

— Less than three minutes after Usain Bolt crossed the finish line, AP had two photos out on the wire. Two minutes later, we had seven out.

— Tony Hicks

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — "Eyes on London" shows you the Olympics through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across the 2012 Olympic city and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.