Bolt leads Jamaican 4x100m victory
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World and Olympic 100-meter champion Usain Bolt anchored Jamaica to victory in the men's 4x100m relay in the USA versus the World showdown at Saturday's 116th Penn Relays.
Bolt, clocked in 8.79 seconds for the last leg, brought home a group that also included Mario Forsythe, Yohan Blake and Marvin Anderson in 37.90 seconds, breaking the meet record set last year by a US squad by .02 of a second.
"It's a very good stepping stone to show that our track club is stepping up and doing well, especially on this 4x100," Bolt said.
"We've been doing baton changes for two weeks. We came here really focused and ready and we came out there and executed."
The Jamaica Gold squad ran the fastest time in the world this year with USA Blue - featuring Walter Dix, Mike Rodgers, Shawn Crawford and Ivory Williams - finished second in 38.33 seconds and USA Red third in 38.50.
Bolt, also on the prior 2010 4x100 best of 38.08 by Racers Lions in Kingston in February, got the baton with the lead and rolled home in typical explosive fashion.
"I told the guys to make sure I didn't have to work, because I really didn't want to do much," Bolt said. "I got the baton pretty much in front, so I wasn't really worried about anything else."
The effort mattered so much that Bolt's coach set up the same marking on their home training track that were found on the Penn Relays surface.
A record crowd of 54,310 packed Franklin Field to see Bolt, who set world records in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and added three titles and two world records at Berlin's 2009 World Championships.
"Over the past two years I've been surprised by the amount of people that know me and the welcome I get when I go to track meets or functions," Bolt said. "I'm still trying to get used to it and I'm enjoying it."
Bolt, who said he felt no pressure and was able to run a relaxed race, had raced in the event in high school in 2002 and said he was excited to be back.
"The crowd here has always been wonderful," Bolt said. "I haven't been here in a while. I was really looking forward to it. It was awesome. The experience was wonderful."
