Usain Bolt captured a third gold medal and a third world record after Jamaica claimed gold in the men's 4x100m relay final in the Beijing Olympic.

The quartet smashed the previous world mark of 37.40 seconds set by the United States at the 1992 Olympics by a huge margin, to set a new benchmark of 37.10 seconds.

The run was quicker than the previous record, twice ran by the US team first in 1992 in Barcelona and also in 1993 in the world championship in Stuttgart.

Bolt had dominated the sprints in Beijing in his breakthrough season, capturing the 100m and 200m titles in new world records.

They became the first Jamaican men to capture the Olympic 4x100m title.

Defending champion, Great Britian failed to reach the final after anchorman Craig Pickering failed to receive the baton and also a disastrous handover between Darvis Patton and Tyson Gay also denied the US a place in the final.

Meanwhile, the USA basketball team avenged their semifinal defeat to Argentina 4 years ago in Athens to set up a final against 2006 world champions, Spain.


In soccer Brazil took out the bronze medal after a 3-0 win against Belgium. The soccer final at 4pm today will see defending champion, Argentina take on Nigeria.

In the medal tally, China still leads with 47 gold, 17 silver and 25 bronze.

USA is in second place with 31 gold, 36 silver and 35 bronze while Great Britain is in third spot with 18 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze.