Usain Bolt won a third gold medal and made it a world record triple yesterday when Jamaica capped their overwhelming dominance in the Olympic sprint events with the title in the 4x100m relay.
"Go Asafa!" Bolt shouted after handing the baton to Asafa Powell, who powered through to finish in 37.10 seconds, a stunning .30 seconds better than the 16-year-old mark of the United States.
Bolt had already set the world record of 9.69 in the 100 and 19.30 in the 200, but that funky Jamaican was aching for an encore.
And Powell, a former 100m world record holder who has had a disappointing Olympics so far, provided it. He crossed the line almost a full second in front of silver medallists Trinidad and Tobago, which finished in 38.06. Japan took the bronze in 38.15.
The loss of the world record made the great American sprint debacle complete, failing to get a single gold in six events.
Just ahead of Bolt's triple, Jamaican sprinters finally proved they were fallible, however, botching the handover of the baton in the women's 4x100 relay they were overwhelmingly expected to win.
"I did what I was supposed to do, she did what she was supposed to do," said Kerron Stewart, who botched the handover with Sherone Simpson. "I guess it wasn't God's will."
Russia profited, unexpectedly adding another gold, and Belgium got its first medal of the Olympics when European champion Kim Gevaert followed close behind. Nigeria took bronze.
The United States was eliminated in the heats.
Maurren Higa Maggi earned Brazil a gold medal in the women's long jump.
The world indoor silver medallist led from the first round at 7.04 metres and it proved enough for gold.
World and defending Olympic champion Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia, who took silver in the triple jump, got another silver medal, finishing only one centimetre behind the Brazilian on her final attempt.
Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria took bronze, a bigger blessing than it seems.
She was only allowed into the final after Lyudmila Blonska was disqualified after failing a doping test in the heptathlon, where she had won silver.
"I'm shocked," Okagbare said. "It is a big miracle."
Carolina Kluft, the three-time world champion and 2004 Athens Olympics heptathlon champion, finished ninth in the contest.
Unlike Kluft, Bryan Clay is sticking with the multi-event test of power and speed which traditionally is called the battle to become "the world's greatest athlete."
The 2004 Olympic silver medallist and 2005 world champion won with 8,791 points.