American relay team salvage some pride

After a week of notable stumbles, the United States track team fully asserted itself in the last two events on the track.

After a week of notable stumbles, the United States track team fully asserted itself in the last two events on the track.

Sanya Richards and Jeremy Wariner ran the anchor legs Saturday night at the Bird8217;s Nest as the women8217;s and men8217;s 4215;400-metre relays won gold medals 8212; the sixth and seventh of these Games for the United States, more than any country with only the men8217;s marathon remaining on Sunday morning.

LaShawn Merritt, Angelo Taylor, David Neville and Wariner set an Olympic record in 2 minutes 55.39 seconds. Bahamas were second 2:58.03, and Russia placed third in 2:58.06.

8220;A lot of things happened in this Olympics that we weren8217;t expecting,8221; Wariner said. 8220;But we8217;ll use that to build on. I know next year at the world championships it8217;s going to be different.8221;

A saving performance by Richards boosted the women8217;s relay team, which included Mary Wineberg, Allyson Felix and Monique Henderson. Richards took the baton for the final lap trailing Anastasia Kapachinskaya of Russia by several yards and edged past her for a 0.28-second victory at the finish. The winning time was 3:18.54. Russia was second in 3:18.82 and Jamaica won bronze in 3:20.40. NYT

Big upset

Blanka Vlasic was the best high jumper, unbeaten for almost two years, but proved suspect once again on the big occasion. And again it was Tia Hellebaut of Belgium, who dominated her for the 2006 European title, that came through. Jumping on tendons that had been sore for most of the year, Hellebaut cleared 2.05 meters on her first attempt. Vlasic needed two. When the Croatian missed three times at 2.07, Hellebaut clinched one of the biggest upsets of the Beijing track events.

Kenya extended its middle-distance domination with a golden double from Wilfred Bungei in the men8217;s 800 and Nancy Jebet Langat in the women8217;s 1,500.

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In the javelin, Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway successfully defended his title with an Olympic record throw. Thorkildsen8217;s fourth toss went 90.57 metres, beating Jan Zelezny8217;s mark of 90.17 from the 2000 Sydney Games.