By John Bagratuni Aug 20, 2008, 16:31 GMT
Beijing - Usain Bolt of Jamaica redefined men's sprinting when he became the first man in 112 years of Olympic history to win the 200m and 100m sprint double with double world records.
Unlike in the 100 metres when he was already dancing as he crossed the finish line, Bolt was still running flat out at the end as he clocked a jaw-dropping 19.30 seconds for his 200m gold on Wednesday.
That shaved two hundredths of a second of Michael Johnson's 19.32 seconds from August 1, 1996 at the Atlanta Olympics. The Jamaican won the 100m Saturday with a stunning world record of 9.69 seconds.
Bolt is the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 in Los Angeles and the ninth overall to win the 100m and 200m at one Olympics.
Churandy Martina won silver for the Dutch Antilles in 19.82 seconds and 2004 gold medallist Shawn Crawford got bronze in 19.96 after fellow-American Wallace Spearmon (19.94) was disqualified.
There was more joy for Jamaica when Melanie Walker won 400m hurdles gold, while Aksana Miankova won hammer throw gold for Belarus in the day's only other two medal events.
Walker won the hurdles in the fourth best time ever of 52.64 seconds. Sheena Tosta of the US got silver in 53.70 and Tasha Danvers secured bronze for Britain in 53.84 seconds.
The season-leader Miankova got the winning hammer throw of 76.34 metres in her fifth attempt, as two-time world champion Yipsi Moreno of Cuba had to settle for silver as in 2004 with 74.40m.
Zhang Wenxiu threw 74.32m in front of a happy home crowd to add Olympic bronze to the one she won at the 2007 worlds.
It was revealed earlier Wednesday that heptathlon silver medallist Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine tested positive for a steroid. She faces being stripped of the medal and a lifetime ban, having already served a two-year suspension 2003-2005 for steroid abuse.
Blonska finished second at the Olympic heptathlon on Friday and Saturday behind compatriot Natalya Dobrynska. American champion Hyleas Fountain was third in the heptathlon and Tatiana Chernova of Russia fourth. They could be bumped up to silver and bronze.
In action outside the Bird's Nest stadium, Yin Jian won China's first ever sailing gold and Russia enjoyed success in both open water and synchronized swimming.
The open water gold went to 19-year-old Larisa Ilchenko in the inaugural 10 kilometres swim in which South African amputee swimmer Natalie Du Toit finished 16th.
Du Toit, who lost her lower left leg in a motorcycle accident in 2001, came in just over a minute behind the winner's 1 hour 59 minutes 27.7 seconds. 'I am not a campaigner,' she said. 'I am just realizing my personal dream.'
Ilchenko's success was followed by Anastasia Davidova and Anastasia Ermakova's success in the synchronised swimming, seeing off competition from Spanish favourites Andrea Fuentes and Gemma Mengual with Belgians Sara Harada and Emiko Suzuki in third.
In wrestling, world and European champion Ramazan Sahin of Turkey narrowly overcame Ukraine's Andriy Stadnik 6-5 in a tough gold-medal match, while in the 74kg final, Russia's Buvaysa Saytiev beat Uzbekistan's Soslan Tigiev to defend his Olympic title.
China's world champion Wu Jingyu took gold in the women's 49- kilogram taekwondo category beating Thailand's Buttree Puedpong, while Mexico's Guillermo Perez won the men's 58-kg event by beating Yulis Gabriel Mercedes of the Dominican Republic by a judges' vote.
China stunned defending champions Germany 3-2 Wednesday to reach the final of the Olympic women's hockey tournament for the first time, where they will face the Netherlands.
The Dutch beat Argentina 5-2 in the day's second semi-final, Maartje Paumen hitting three off penalty corners in a match they dominated.
In basketball, Spain eased past Croatia, Lithuania were too strong for hosts China, the USA demolished Australia and Argentina overcame Greece a ding-dong battle in the quarter-finals.
The results set up semi-final matches between Spain and Lithuania, and between the USA and Argentina.
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