Bolt sets third world record of Games in 400 men's relay

Bolt sets third world record of Games in 400 men's relay
BEIJING -- Yelling at his teammate after handing off the baton, Usain Bolt saw another world record in reach. It was just a matter of time. Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Gett yImages That's three gold medals and three world records for Usain Bolt at the Beijing Olympics. Asafa Powell took the baton from Bolt and did the honors in the anchor leg of the men's 400-meter relay Friday, finishing the race in 37.10 seconds to shatter a 16-year-old mark and bring yet another gold medal home to Jamaica. "It's wonderful," Bolt said. "You can't explain the feeling you feel after the greatest Olympics ever." There's no other way to define it for the 6-foot-5, 22-year-old sprinter, the likes of which the world has never seen. Three races. Three gold medals. Three world records. That's never happened before. Bolt also became only the fourth man, and the first since Carl Lewis in 1984, to win all three Olympic sprint events. His three gold medals are exceeded in these games only by the record eight for American swimmer Michael Phelps. British cyclist Chris Hoy and Chinese gymnast Zou Kai of China also won three. Bolt got to share his final chapter with Powell, who held the world record in the 100 for about three years before Bolt took it over in May -- then broke it again last Saturday in a hot-dogging 9.69 seconds at the Bird's Nest. After finishing fifth in the last two Olympic 100s, Powell had the reputation as a great runner who couldn't handle pressure. By the time he took the handoff from Bolt, his first Olympic medal was secure. It was a only a matter of chasing history. Just as Bolt had done when he ran 19.30 in the 200 to break Michael Johnson's mark, Powell drove hard to the finish, leaning at the line, and then looked at the clock. 37.10. Thatwas 0.3 secondS better than the mark first set by an American team featuring Lewis and Leroy Burrell at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and tied at the world championships a year later. "I pushed myself to help Usain and his quest for three gold medals," Powell said. Powell crossed 0.96 second ahead of Trinidad and Tobago's Richard Thompson -- the biggest margin in the Olympics since 1936. Japan took the bronze. "We simply couldn't compete," said Thompson's teammate, Marc Burns. The United States didn't qualify for the final after dropping the baton in qualifying. Americ a'sabsence from this race because of the baton mishap eliminated any real competition for the Jamaicans. But even had Tyson Gay and Co. been on the track, it's hard to imagine anyone beating a team with Bolt and Powell. It was still a race after Nesta Carter and Michael Frater completed the first two legs. But moments after Frater handed off to Bolt, the race became a rout. And when Bolt handed off to Powell, Powell's quest became very much like Bolt's was two nights previous in the 200 -- not simply to win, but to own a slice of history. When the race ended, Bolt greeted Powell. They hugged and found some Jamaican flags to wear around their shoulders as the familiar reggae music filled the stadium.