Story highlights
Usain Bolt wins men's 200m gold to complete historic sprint double
David Rudisha of Kenya breaks his own world record in the men's 800m
Rudisha takes gold in one minute 40.91 seconds
Caster Semenya qualifies fastest for women's 800m final
Usain Bolt carved his name in the Olympic record books Thursday by claiming gold in the 200 meters in London as he led a Jamaican sweep of the medal positions.
The 25-year-old Bolt became the first man in Games history to defend both the 100 and 200 meters titles, which he had won in such convincing style at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
His teammate and training partner Yohan Blake chased him all the way up the finishing straight to take the silver medal.
Warren Weir completed a one-two-three for Jamaica in a personal best time of 19.84 seconds.
Bolt was outside his own world record with a winning time of 19.32 seconds, while Blake clocked 19.44 seconds.
Wallace Spearmon was fourth for the United States.
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The 25-year-old Bolt won the 100m final Sunday in 9.63 seconds, again relegating Blake to second place.
“It’s the one I wanted I’m very proud of myself,” Bolt told BBC Sport.
“I didn’t get a world record – I really wanted to do it in the 200m – but I’m happy.”
Blake added: “Usain Bolt has been motivating me all season. Everything has been going good so far.”
The pair, who are both coached by Glen Mills, will form a formidable half of Jamaica’s 4x100 meters relay squad as they look to defend their Beijing title.
Victory in the relay would give Bolt his sixth Olympic gold medal.
An epic night was kick started by a sensational victory in the men’s 800m for David Rudisha of Kenya.
Rudisha ran one minute 40.91 seconds to break his own world record, the first in the track and field events at the Games.
The 23-year-old led from start to finish and was never seriously challenged, despite a superb run by 18-year-old silver medalist Nijel Amos of Botswana.
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Amos clocked one minute 41.73 seconds, matching the former world record time set by London Games chief Sebastian Coe back in 1981, which stood for 16 years.
Another teenager, 17-year-old Timothy Kitum of Kenya, took the bronze in one minute 42.53 seconds.
Rudisha, who was inspired by Coe’s exploits, had promised him something special and did not disappoint.
“I was well prepared and had no doubt about winning,” he told BBC Sport.
“I was waiting for perfect conditions to break the record and decided to go for it,” he added.
The qualifiers for the final of the women’s 800 meters were led by gender row athlete Caster Semenya of South Africa.
Semenya showed the form that took her to the world championship in 2009 in Berlin, easing up to win in one minute 57.67 seconds.
American Christian Taylor won the men’s triple jump with a 17.81 meters effort to add to his world title from Daegu last year.
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U.S. teammate Will Claye finished in the silver medal position with Italy’s Fabrizio Donato taking bronze.
There was further gold medal success for the United States in the decathlon as world record holder Ashton Eaton won with 8,869 points.
He ended 198 points clear of teammate and two-time world champion Trey Hardee with Cuba’s Leonel Suarez taking the bronze.
Eaton broke the world mark with 9039 points at the U.S. trials in June where 2008 Olympic champion Bryan Clay failed to make the team after falling in the 110 meters hurdles.
The final gold medal of a remarkable evening went to Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic, who successfully defended her javelin title with a throw of 69.55 meters.
The 31-year-old dominated the competition and four of her efforts would have been good enough for victory.
Germany’s Christina Obergfoll and Linda Stahl won the silver and bronze.