BEIJING -- Usain Bolt lowered his 6-foot-5 frame into a too-small seat in the warm-up room and watched on TV as his main rival coasted across the line in a first-round heat at the world championships.

Imagine you were a basketball player who committed one innocuous foul – and the referee sent you to the showers. Or, imagine you’re an offensive lineman who jumped offsides, then spent the second half ...