Battle cry: ‘Go Asafa!’

“Go Asafa!” Bolt shouted after handing over the baton, pointing Powell in the direction of a golden record. And his team mate did exactly that — completing the only great run of his disappointing Olympics to turn reggae into the Olympic anthem of the celebrating Bird’s Nest.

And Bolt, never at a loss for words, was not going to wait for IOC president Jacques Rogge to anoint the superlative of the Beijing Games.

“You can’t explain the feeling after the greatest Olympics ever,” Bolt said.

And who to question him.

Bolt also became only the fourth man, and the first since Carl Lewis in 1984, to win all three Olympic sprint events.

He had already set the world record in the 100 and the 200, but that funky Jamaican was aching for an encore.

And Powell, a former 100 world record holder who only finished fifth in the 100, provided it. He crossed the line almost a full second in front of silver medallists Trinidad and Tobago, who finished in 38.06. Japan took the bronze in 38.15.

“I said to Asafa, ‘Can we do this?’ And he was like, ‘Don’t worry, man, we got this one’,” Bolt said.

The celebrations were boisterous as usual, but four times bigger, with the whole relay team joining, slamming chests together, bear hugs and — obviously — Bolt’s signature bow-and-arrow move.

Dibaba’s double

If Bolt was again all about the shiny golden shoes, oversize celebrations and wiggling dances to reggae, Tirunesh Dibaba achieved a landmark almost as impressive in total serenity.

The Ethiopian claimed an unprecedented long-distance double, winning the 5,000 metres to achieve something Ethiopian greats such as Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele have been unable to do. In an intense battle with rival Meseret Defar, Dibaba kicked for home with 500 metres to go. Defar, the defending champion, just cracked.

Bekele is going for a similar double in the 5,000 on Saturday, after barely missing out four years ago.

Not perfect

Just ahead of Bolt’s triple, Jamaican sprinters finally proved they were fallible, however, botching the handover of the baton in the women’s 4×100 relay they were overwhelmingly expected to win.

“I did what I was supposed to do, she did what she was supposed to do,” said Kerron Stewart, who botched the handover with Sherone Simpson. “I guess it wasn’t God’s will.”

Russia profited, unexpectedly adding another gold, and Belgium got their first medal of the Olympics when Kim Gevaert followed close behind. Nigeria took bronze. The United States were eliminated in the heats.