OLYMPICS LONDON 2012: Bolt blasts to relay gold in possible swansong

By Ben Burrows, Sportsbeat, London 2012

USAIN Bolt ended his London 2012 adventure in world record style as he and his Jamaica team stormed to the Olympic 4x100 metre title.

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The 25-year-old, accompanied by Nesta Carter, Michael Frater and Yohan Blake, blasted to a new world best time of 36.84 seconds to claim the gold ahead of rivals United States.

And Bolt confirmed that this may well be the last time he competes at an Olympic Games with his future in the sport still up in the air.

"It's always a beautiful thing to end on this note," he said. "Last year we did it at the World Championships and this year we have done it again. For me it's just a wonderful feeling to end on a high note. It was a great championship.

"I'm happy - the team came out and gave it their all. I knew it was possible, I wish we could have gone faster. I guess we've just left room for improvement.

"I think it's going to be very hard because Yohan, he's just come into the game and he's running pretty well and I'm sure there will be a lot more young cats coming up to run. For me it's just wonderful, I'm just happy. I'm going to take it a step at a time and see what happens in four years.

"As soon as the tax law changes I will be here all the time because I love it coming here because I have so many Jamaican fans here. I wish I could run here every day but I can't."

Carter and Frater produced solid first and second legs before Blake blew United States rival Tyson Gay away around the bend before handing off to Bolt to finish in style.

And they were delighted to produce their best in front of a crowd they consider to be almost as good as the ones they are used to back home in Kingston.

"We have got a lot of practice in this year and over the years we haven't got a lot of practice and this year we nailed it," said Carter. "I was expecting a fast time and 36.84 secs is a really fast time."

Frater added: "It's almost like home. We have a huge following in the stands - there are a lot of Jamaican flags.

"The US team ran a very fast team and we knew they had been putting in some practice to bring their best but I think we are a bit above them right now.

"A world record of 36.84 secs is a very fast time. Sadly Asafa Powell wasn't here - if he was on the team maybe we could have gone even faster.

Blake has played second fiddle to his legendary teammate for much of London 2012 but he was happy to finish off his Games with a gold medal after two silvers.

"It has been amazing," he said. "It has been good. I just want to congratulate the team. We knew we were good."

The United States foursome of Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Gay and Ryan Bailey claimed silver with Trinidad and Tobago grabbing bronze after Canada were disqualified.

The sprint relay gold is Bolt's sixth after claiming the 100m, 200m and relay titles in Beijing before beating training partner Blake to the sprint double in London.

© Sportsbeat 2012