Two U.S. relay teams save some face

The men's and women's 4x400 relay teams won gold, ending a disappointing run by U.S. sprinters in Beijing.

By LUCIANA CHAVEZ, The News & Observer

Last update: August 23, 2008 - 10:27 PM

BEIJING - The U.S. men's 4x400 relay team scored the U.S. track contingent's first Olympic record of the 2008 Beijing Games on the last full day of competition at the Bird's Nest.

The women's 4x400 relay team also won gold behind a gutsy anchor leg from Sanya Richards, who caught and passed her Russian counterpart in the final 50 meters.

The victories reclaimed some dignity for a U.S. track and field team that has struggled in these Games.

Men's 4x400: La Shawn Merritt said after the race that gold medals go to those who want it the most. The Americans, who had swept the individual 400, blew away the field. Merritt, Angelo Taylor, David Neville and Jeremy Wariner recorded an Olympic record time of 2:55:39, breaking a 16-year-old record set by the U.S. in Barcelona in 1992.

Bahamas won silver, Russia bronze.

Women's 4x400: Richards had to chase down Russian anchor runner Anastasia Kapachinskaya, passing her less than 10 meters from the tape. Mary Wineberg, Allyson Felix, Monique Henderson and Richards came home in 3:18.54. Henderson and Richards both ran for the gold medal-winning team in Athens in 2004. Russia took silver, Jamaica bronze.

Women's 1,500: After drafting along in fourth and fifth place, American Shannon Rowbury couldn't get up and go when everyone else got up and went on the final leg. Kenya's Nancy Jebet Langat won the gold in a time of 4:00.23. Rowbury was seventh in 4:03.58, the best American finish ever at that distance in the Olympics.

Men's 5,000: U.S. runner Bernard Lagat developed an infection in his throat two days ago and labored Saturday. It showed when gold medal winner Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia sprinted for the finish in an Olympic record time of 12:57.82. Kenyan teammates Eliud Kipchoge and Edwin Cheruiyot Soi won silver and bronze. "At some point they went and I could not go," said Lagat, who won the world championship in the 1,500 and 5,000 in 2007. "I got slower and slower and slower."

Women's high jump: Belgium's Tia Hellebaut, 30, pulled the upset, beating defending world champion Blanka Vlasic, 24, of Croatia, who had been dominating meets coming into the Olympics.

Men's marathon: Samuel Wanjiru became the first Kenyan in the storied running history of that nation to win an Olympic marathon, winning in an Olympic record of 2 hours, 6 minutes, 32 seconds. American Dathan Ritzenhein was ninth in 2:11.59, and another American, Ryan Hall, was 10th in 2:12.33.

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