Usain Bolt once snapped at reporter for 'disrespectful' question that left entire news conference stunned

Usain Bolt was left gobsmacked and snapped at a reporter for a 'disrespectful' question after his loss to Justin Gatlin in the 100m final at the World Championships.

Bolt finished behind American duo Christian Coleman and Gatlin, who claimed gold at the 2017 World Championships in London.

The Jamaican recorded a time of 9.95 seconds while Gatlin clocked an impressive 9.92 seconds.

After the event, Bolt, Gatlin and Coleman fielded questions from the media in a fiery press conference.

A reporter asked Gatlin, who has failed two drug tests in his career, if the lower times could be attributed to increased doping control given that there were only seven sub-10 second times in 2017.

Bolt interrupted and exclaimed: "Woah, woah, what?! What is she saying? I heard you but I’m saying, 'what?!'"

Christian Coleman, Justin Gatlin and Usain Bolt during the medal ceremony at the 2017 World Championships. Image: Getty

He added: "First of all, I’m sure everybody up here takes that very disrespectfully.

"We’ve proved we’ve worked hard; as I said Justin has done his time over the years and he's proven himself over and over again. I’ve proven myself over and over again.

"Young kid, just coming in, Coleman, has done great and shown the world he’s going to be a great athlete."

The eight-time Olympic gold medalist continued: "There’s something called injury - and sometimes everything don’t go smoothly as you want to. There’s negative wind, there’s so many different (factors).

"So for you to just directly state something to all three of us like that, I take that as disrespectful... because we've done so many great things throughout the years. Yes, it’s slow. But we came out there and put on a good show for everybody so, yeah... wow."

Bolt defended Gatlin even though he has served two doping-related suspensions.

The American sprinter was initially banned for life, which was reduced to eight years and then four following an appeal.

Bolt's 9.58 seconds at the 2009 World Championships is still a 100m world record.