Jamaica's Usain Bolt (1st, R) sprints during the men's 4x100m relay final of Athletics at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 19, 2016. Jamaica won the gold medal. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
By Sportswriter Wang Jimin
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Usain Bolt sealed an unprecedented 'triple-triple' on his Olympic farewell by leading Jamaica to top of the podium in the 4x100m relay final at the Rio Games on Friday.
The 29-year-old superstar, widely seen as the greatest sprinter in history, stormed over the line in 37.27 seconds to trigger an eruption of adulation in the Olympic Stadium.
Japan's quartet took a surprise silver in 37.60 seconds while the United States came third in 37.62 but was disqualified. Surprise world runner-up China was upgraded to fourth.
Bolt, who said Rio will be his last Olympics, has won an Olympic sweep of 100m, 200m and 4x100m for the third straight time.
Earlier, the United States clinched their 11th Olympic women's 4x100m relay title, setting the second fastest time in history.
The US team of Allyson Felix, Tianna Bartoletta, Tori Bowie and English Gardner clocked 41.04 seconds, beating Jamaica by 0.35 seconds. Britain was third in 41.77.
It was Felix's fifth Olympic gold medal and the third for Bartoletta, who also won the long jump here.
The time was just 19 hundredths of a second slower than the world record set by the US at the London 2012 Games, in which Felix and Bartoletta also participated.
The US originally missed out on qualifying for the final but was allowed a solo re-run of their heat on Thursday when officials ruled they were obstructed.
In women's 5,000m event, Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot won gold with a new Olympic record while women's pole vault gold went to Ekaterini Stefanidi of Greece.
China pushed hard on the medals table as it bagged two golds in 20km race walk and badminton.
World record holder Liu Hong's long wait for an Olympic medal finally ended as she won a thrilling 20km race walk competition.
The 29-year-old clocked one hour 28 minutes and 35 seconds to beat Mexico's Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez by just two seconds.
China's Lyu Xiuzhi took bronze, only seven seconds behind her teammate.
"It was hard because the weather wasn't that good," Liu said of the hot conditions. "The only thing I could do was keep going, do my best and try to make it perfect."
Liu finished fourth in the race at both the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympics. She rebounded from those setbacks by posting a world record of 1:24:38 in Spain last year.
"It means a lot to me. I have been doing this sport for more than 10 years now," Liu added. "This time I was doing my best to get a medal and I am pleased I could get the gold."
In badminton, China's traditionally strong sport, Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan awarded China the first badminton gold medal at Rio by beating Malaysia's Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong 16-21, 21-11, 23-21.
Locked at one game each with the two pairs going into the third, the Malaysian wasted two match points as first Tan served short before Goh put his own serve into the net. Tan then hit long to hand match point to China before Goh sliced the shuttle out.
In the most anticipated match by badminton fans, long time rivals Lin Dan of China and Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia presented one last Olympic showdown between them.
Lee eventually overcame two-time Olympic gold medalist Lin 15-21, 21-11, 22-20 to set up a final showdown against Lin's teammate Chen Long, a two-time world champion.
Lin and Lee exchanged jerseys and hugged each other following their close men's singles semifinals, after 16 years of being both rivals and friends.
As a seasoned veteran, Lin is the one who best understands Lee's efforts and wished him good luck.
"I hope he can have a good performance tomorrow in the final. As we become older, both of us have to train really really hard to stay at the level we are now," said Lin, 32.
China's "Super Dan" won record two consecutive Olympic gold medals at the Beijing and London Olympic Games, twice beating Lee in the finals to mount the top of the podium.
"I never beat Lin Dan at the important world competitions such as Olympics and World Championships," said Lee. "When I finally won the match, I thanks the god. It's destiny."
"I feel proud for both of us. We can still compete together with young shuttlers at the age of 33. This is our fourth Olympics. It's an honor to represent my country."
In women's football, Germany claimed the Olympic gold for the first time thanks to a 2-1 win over Sweden in front of a huge crowd at Rio's Maracana.
History was also made by Tajikistan's Dilshod Nazarov, who won the men's hammer title to capture the first gold medal for his country.
In basketball, the United States collection of NBA stars, unbeaten for a decade, will face Serbia in Sunday's gold medal game after both teams won semifinals.
The Americans downed Spain 82-76 for their 24th consecutive Olympic victory in a rematch of the past two Olympic finals while Serbia routed Australia 87-61.
After Friday's finals, the United States still tops the medals table with 38 golds, followed by Britain and China on 24 and 22 respectively.
