Jamaica's Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake led their team to gold and a new world record in the men's 4x100-meter relay final Saturday night, bringing a thrilling end to competition at the London Olympic Stadium.
The four-man Jamaican team finished in 36.84, with Bolt drawing cheers as he ran the electrifying last leg.
"For me, it's just a wonderful feeling to end on a high note," he told the BBC with a big smile. "I knew it was possible, I wish we could have gone faster, but I guess it leaves room for improvement."
It was the third gold medal of the London Games for Bolt, who already made history at these Olympics by winning back-to-back 100-meter and 200-meter titles.
The U.S. team, which included Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay, came in second with 37.04, matching the previous world record and setting a new national record.
Trinidad & Tobago took the bronze, but only after the Canadian team was disqualified because captain Jared Connaughton stepped out of his lane. Athletics Canada unsuccessfully appealed.
Connaughton later tweeted, "I'm so sorry everyone. My heart is broken. I let my team down. I'm sorry." But head coach Alex Gardiner said an apology wasn't necessary, because Connaughton had given it all he had.
"I feel nothing but overwhelming sadness for these guys. DQ is a hard pill to swallow," Gardiner said, according to Athletics Canada.
Leading up to the men's relay final were three other exciting races.
The United States took home the gold in the women's 4x400-meter relay, following its world-record win in the women's 4x100-meter race Friday.
The team of DeeDee Trotter, Allyson Felix, Francena McCorory, and Sanya Richards-Ross finished nearly four seconds ahead of the Russians. Jamaica won the bronze.
Great Britain's Mo Farah gave the home crowd something to cheer about when he won the men's 5,000-meter race earlier in the evening.
Farah is the 5,000-meter world champion and has now doubled his medal haul from the Games, following his win in the 10,000-meter race a week ago. Ethiopia's Dejen Gebremeskel took silver and Kenya's Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa took bronze in the 5,000-meter.
Also Saturday, South Africa's Caster Semenya, the athlete at the center of a gender row three years ago, won the silver in the women's 800-meter final. She was a favorite going into the race along with Russia's Mariya Savinova, who won the gold; fellow Russian Ekaterina Poistogova won the bronze.
With 32 gold medals up for grabs across 15 sports, it was a busy day outside the stadium, too.
The U.S. women's basketball team won its fifth straight Olympic gold medal when it beat France 86-50 in the North Greenwich Arena along the Thames.
Team USA advanced to the final after beating Australia, winner of the bronze.
The first medal for Team USA on Saturday came in the women's mountain bike competition at Hadleigh Farm in Essex, with a bronze for Georgia Gould of Baltimore. Gold went to France's Julie Bresset and silver to Sabine Spitz from Germany. The venue, which made its Olympic debut Saturday, hosts the men's mountain bike event Sunday.
Brazil beat the United States 3-1 in the women's volleyball final in four sets, setting the gold and silver medals, after Japan took the bronze.
The host of the next summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and a famously soccer-mad nation, Brazil had hoped for its first Olympic football gold in the men's final at Wembley but instead saw Mexico claim a convincing 2-1 victory.
The Brazilians got off to an inauspicious start when they conceded a goal by Mexico's Oribe Peralta in the first minute of the game. Peralta headed the ball in for a crucial second goal with 75 minutes gone.
Brazil came back with a goal in the 90th minute but failed to capitalize on a chance in the final seconds, giving gold to Mexico. Korea took the bronze.
A gold for Russia came in the men's 50-kilometer race walk, which set off on The Mall by Buckingham Palace on Saturday morning.
Just over three-and-a-half hours later, Sergey Kirdyapkin crossed the line first to take gold, ahead of Australian Jared Tallent, who took silver in Beijing, and China's Tianfeng Si.
The field was without Beijing gold-medalist Alex Schwazer, who was expelled from the Games on Friday after testing positive for a banned substance, recombinant erythropoietin (rhEPO), which aids red blood cell production. The 27-year-old Italian had set an Olympic record four years ago, but it was beaten by Kirdyapkin on Saturday.
