Bolt Wins 8th Gold…After Jamaica Relay Victory

Usain Bolt guided Jamaica to victory in the sprint relay in Moscow to become the most successful athlete in the history of the World Championships.

The 26-year-old added 4x100m gold to his 100m and 200m triumphs and now has a total of eight golds and two silvers.

Carl Lewis and Allyson Felix also have 10 medals but have eight golds, one silver and a bronze respectively.

Jamaica won in 37.36 seconds with the United States second and Canada third after Great Britain were disqualified.

Britain finished third but lost their bronze after an appeal http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/23748244 was lodged against their second changeover.

However, the women’s relay team were later promoted to the bronze-medal position after France were disqualified for a similar infringement.

Bolt’s latest triumph meant he joined Americans Michael Johnson, Felix and Lewis on a record-equalling eight world titles overall.

The 100m and 200m world record holder also secured a sprint triple in World Championships for the second time, matching the trebles he completed at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

‘It is just great,’ Bolt said of the comparison. ‘I’ll continue dominating. I’ll continue to work hard. For me, my aim is to continue into the greatness thing.’

The United States team gave the Jamaicans a scare but Rakieem Salaam’s handover to Justin Gatlin left the individual 100m runner-up off balance.

He clearly strayed into the Jamaicans’ lane outside him but somehow escaped disqualification.

It made no difference to Bolt, who streaked clear to complete victory in the sixth-fastest time ever.

‘I wasn’t really worried about Justin. I knew if he got the baton in front of me, I could catch him,’ Bolt said. ‘So it was just going out there to run as fast as possible.’

Bolt delighted the crowd with a celebratory Cossack dance before parading round the track with team-mates Nesta Carter, Kemar Bailey-Cole and Nickel Ashmeade.

Jamaica also won the women’s 4x100m relay to give Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce her third gold medal of the competition.

Carrie Russell, Kerron Stewart, Schillonie Calvert and Fraser-Pryce won in a championship record 41.29 seconds.

Russia finished top of the medal table  http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/14th-iaaf-world-championships-4873/medaltable with seven golds while the United States won six, although the Americans won 27 medals in total to the hosts’ 17.

Jamaica also claimed six golds, Kenya five, Germany four and Ethiopia and Britain three.