Blistering Bolt bags triple joy

Beijing

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Usain Bolt capped a memorable world championships by winning a third gold yesterday as anchor of Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team, while the United States were disqualified to hand China a shock silver.

Bolt ran a blistering final leg at a packed Bird’s Nest stadium, hurtling through the line in 37.36 seconds after team-mates Nesta Carter, Asafa Powell and Nickel Ashmeade had successfully got the baton around. The victory gave Bolt his 11th world gold medal -- his only blemish being the 100m at the 2011 Daegu worlds, when he was disqualified after a false start. The US quartet of 100m bronze and silver medallists Trayvon Bromell and Justin Gatlin, and fellow finalists Tyson Gay and Mike Rodgers, were initially awarded silver before being disqualified over a botched final handover which strayed beyond the passover limit.

China, headed by individual 100m finalist Su Bingtian, delighted the home crowd when they were upgraded to silver in 38.01sec, while Canada moved up to bronze (38.13).

There was a distinctly gladiatorial atmosphere in the Bird’s Nest as all teams entered the arena through a traditional Chinese facade, passing cheerleaders and flagbearers to be introduced to a raucous capacity crowd.

Racing in lane four, Carter’s opening leg for Jamaica saw him slip slightly down on Bromell.