And with three gold medals in Moscow, the Jamaican great became the
most successful athlete in the 30-year history of the world
championships.
The 4x100-meter relay gold Sunday erased the memories of the 100
title he missed out on in South Korea two years ago because of a false
start. And, combined with an identical 100-200-relay triple from
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Bolt was instrumental in giving Jamaica the
first sweep of the six sprint events. Bolt was still trailing Justin Gatlin when he got the baton on the
anchor leg, but a botched U.S. handover and his superior speed were
enough to carry him, and Jamaica, to victory. He gritted his teeth, dipped at the line, and then grinned with relief. ''I am very satisfied,'' Bolt said. Bolt had already won the 100 and 200 meters. It was his second such
sprint triple at the world championships, matching the two he has
achieved at the Olympics.
With his victory, Bolt moved to the top of the all-time world
championships medals table with eight gold and two silver, edging Carl
Lewis, who has eight gold, one silver and one bronze.
And again Luzhniki Stadium and its 40,000 fans turned into a Bolt party.
With palpable relief after a week of an all-business demeanor during
his earlier races, Bolt finally let go. His arms across his chest, he
kicked his legs as he went down lower and lower to imitate a traditional
eastern European dance to the delight of the crowd.
''A lot of energy here today,'' Bolt said.
He threw he shoes into the stands
and struck his ''Lightning Bolt'' pose again, knowing he finally could
escape the stress as Bob Marley's ''Three Little Birds'' blared.
Twenty minutes earlier, Fraser-Pryce became the first woman in world
championship history to sweep the sprint events, anchoring Jamaica to
gold in the 4x100-meter relay.
Unlike Bolt, Fraser-Pryce got the baton with a big lead. With her
pink hair extensions swaying in the air behind her, she kept on building
her advantage to cross in a championship record of 41.29 seconds.
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