By John Bagratuni Aug 22, 2008, 15:08 GMT
Beijing - Usain Bolt completed an historic Olympic gold and world record treble on Friday when he guided Jamaica to victory in the men's 4x100 metres relay in Beijing.
Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates after winning the Men's 4x100m Relay Final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in the National Stadium, Beijing, China, 22 August 2008. EPA/GERO BRELOER
Former doping offender Maurren Maggi became the first ever Brazilian women's athletics gold medallist in the long jump, while Italy's Alex Schwarzer strolled to gold in the men's 50km walk.
Tirunish Dibaba of Ethiopia completed the first Olympic women's long distance gold medal double, Bryan Clay of the United States won the decathlon and Australia's Steve Hooker triumphed in the pole vault.
Bolt ran the third leg as he and teammates Nesta Carter, Michael Frater and Asafa Powell stormed home in 37.10 seconds, clipping an astonishing 0.30 seconds off the previous mark set by the US in 1992.
The Jamaican set world records in his 100m and 200m victories earlier in the Games, but the relay win was his country's first in the event at an Olympics as the Caribbean team profited from the absence of the US, who dropped the baton in the heats.
Jamaica's women's relay team did not fare so well, losing the baton in the 4x100 metres to open the door for Russia to win gold in 42.31 seconds. Belgium got silver and Nigeria took bronze.
Dibaba, 22, ran away from her rivals on the last lap to win the slow-paced race in 15 minutes 41.40 seconds, a week after she clinched Olympic gold in the 10,000 metres.
The women's long jump medal order was decided in the first of six rounds, with Maggi, who was banned 2003-2005 for drug abuse, soaring 7.04m for her biggest career success since two Pan American titles.
Hooker cleared 5.96 metres in the pole vault to edge Russia's Yevgeny Lukyanenko into second place, with Denys Yurchenko of Ukraine taking bronze.
Clay took the decathlon crown with 8,791 points four years after having to settle for silver in Athens behind Czech Roman Sebrle, who was out of the medals in Beijing.
Outside the Bird's Nest, Germany and Belarus each grabbed two golds in the flatwater canoe and kayaking events, while Latvian Maris Strombergs and Anne-Caroline Chausson of France won the inaugural BMX cycling gold medals.
Todd Rogers and Philip Dalhausser of the United States took men's beach volleyball gold on a day when doping offender Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine was stripped of her heptathlon silver medal and kicked out of the Beijing Games.
Blonska, 30, tested positive for the steroid methyltestosterone after the completion of the heptathlon on August 16 where she finished second behind compatriot Natalya Dobrynska.
Elsewhere there was gold for Germany in the modern pentathlon, while Iran and South Korea shared the honours in taekwondo and China swept the women's table tennis singles.
In the walk - taking place in merciless sunshine after Thursday's heavy rain - Schwarzer broke a three-man leader group after the 40km mark to claim victory in 3 hours 37 minutes 9 seconds.
Schwarzer is the first Italian to win the walk marathon since Abdon Pamich 1964 in Tokyo. The last three editions were won by now retired Polish great Robert Korzeniowski.
Germany was successful in the women's kayak four 500m and the kayak two 1,000m at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, while Briton Tim Brabants won the kayak single over 1,000m and Attila Sandor Vajda from Hungary took gold in the 1,000m canoe single.
There was joy for Belarus in the men's kayak over 1,000 metres as well as for Belarus pair Andrei Bahdanovich and Aliaksandr Bahdanovich in the men's 1,000m canoe.
The Netherlands took the women's hockey gold medal, beating hosts China 2-0 in the final. Argentina edged Germany 3-1 for bronze.
Thai boxers Manus Boonjumnong and Somjit Jongjohor remain in the hunt for gold after winning their respective semi-finals. US hopes of claiming a gold were dashed with the defeat of heavyweight Deontay Wilder to Italian Russo Clemente.
The International Olympic Committee meanwhile confirmed that it has requested gymnastics' ruling body FIG to look into whether any underage Chinese women gymnasts have competed at the Beijing Games.
There have been constant allegations that He Kexin, who won the uneven bars competition and was also a member of China's gold- winning team, was 14 rather than 16 as stated. There has also been controversy surrounding Jiang Yuyuan, who also took team gold.
Outside the sporting competition, Beijing police ordered six pro- Tibet activists - all Americans - to 10 days in detention in the harshest treatment so far of Tibet activists since a series of demonstrations in the capital during the Olympics.
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