The USA’s women’s 4 x 100m Relay team smashed the world record with a blistering run at the Olympic Stadium on another golden day at London 2012. The team of Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter raced away from their closest challengers Jamaica to take gold in a time of 40.82.
Felix said: ‘It’s an honour to be part of this team. Who would have thought that we would have had a world record tonight? It’s amazing. Our names are going down in history.’ The Jamaicans ran a national record of 41.41, but still finished well adrift, while Ukraine took the bronze. Asli Cakir Alptekin took gold in a scrappy 1500m. The Turkish athlete won a slow race in 4:10.23, finishing ahead of compatriot Gamze Bulut, with Bahrain’s Maryam Yusuf Jamal third. Ethiopian Meseret Defar claimed gold in the women’s 5000m. Defar denied her compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba the chance to add another title to the 10,000m crown she won a week ago. Dibaba also won gold in both events at Beijing 2008. Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot was second with Dibaba getting the bronze. Bahamas won the men’s 4 x 400m Relay final in 2:56.72, with the USA second and Trinidad third, 0.31 ahead of Great Britain. South Africa, with Oscar Pistorius running fourth, finished in eighth place. Russia’s Tatyana Lysenko won the women’s Hammer Throw in an Olympic record of 78.18m while France’s Renaud Lavillenie took the men’s Pole Vault crown. Australia and New Zealand enjoyed a golden day on the water at Weymouth and Portland in the Sailing. Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page finished first for the green and gold in the men’s 470 class and were followed to the top of the podium by Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie of New Zealand in the women’s equivalent. Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli won the men’s 10km Marathon open water Swimming and then hinted at retirement. Mellouli, who won the bronze in the 1500m Freestyle in the pool last week, finished the race ahead of Germany’s Thomas Lurz and Richard Weinberger of Canada.
Mellouli said: ‘I can’t explain it, I can’t really describe it. ‘I don’t think this has ever been done before. This is probably one of the toughest things to do.’ As for his future, he added: ‘There’s no way I can top this achievement. ‘Today I became the first to get medals in the pool and open water. There’s no better way than this to leave it all behind me and just enjoy life.’ Champions the Netherlands successfully defended their title to spoil Argentina captain Luciana Aymar’s farewell to international Hockey on her 35th birthday. Olympic gold is the only medal the South American playmaker and seven-time world player of the year has not won and she admitted victory in the final would give her ‘eternal glory’. However, arguably the greatest player in the history of the women’s game bowed out having won two silvers and two bronzes in her four Olympic appearances.
