ATHLETICS:THEY SAY breaking a world record on the track is a bit like a near-death experience: your whole life flashes before your eyes, then you suddenly come back down to earth. Usain Bolt has been to heaven and back three times in seven days and at this rate may well become the first athlete to discover the fourth dimension.

This time, with the aid of his Jamaican compatriots, Bolt lowered the 4x100-metre mark to 37.1 seconds. That's four times 100 metres in 37.1 seconds. Roughly 9.25 per 100 metres. Excuse us while we catch our breath.

The previous record of 37.40 had stood to the USA since 1993, and it wasn't just that the Jamaicans so convincingly bettered it; it was the way they did so.

The sight of Bolt passing off on the final leg to Asafa Powell and then continuing to run after him while pointing toward the finish line may well be the enduring moment of the past seven days, eclipsing even Bolt's solo world records over 100 and 200 metres.

That's because Jamaica had already owned the sprint events at these Olympics and this was their celebratory encore, and all 91,000 inside the Bird's Nest responded accordingly.

It's one thing hoping for a world record; another thing getting it. The Jamaicans didn't disappoint.

They were motivated by the sense of certainty. They were chasing a sixth gold medal. And they were intent on making up for the dropping of the baton by the Jamaican women a while earlier.

"All I can say is, yo, Jamaican sprinters are taking over the world," said Bolt, who now has the distinction of being involved in three world records the same Olympics. "We've always been the sprinters, but we are going to tell the world we're taking over forever, forever."

Nesta Carter and Michael Frater ran the opening legs, but it was only when Bolt took the baton around the bend that the record seemed on. Powell ran the final leg as if he feared Bolt might actually keep going and beat him to the line, and in the end their 37.1 left them almost a second clear of their old Caribbean rivals Trinidad and Tobago, who clocked 38.06.

Despite the women's team messing up in their race, Jamaica's sixth gold of these Olympics left them equal first on the athletics medal table, along with Russia, entering the final day on the track. The Americans are one behind on five gold and are in danger of finishing off the top for the first time since 1988.

Ethiopia last night won their third gold medal, and the second for Tirunesh Dibaba. For much of the past week the talk among distance-running enthusiasts was whether Kenenisa Bekele would get to emulate Miruts Yifter by winning the first 5,000-10,000m double on the track since 1980 - the sort of feat that guarantees immortality in Ethiopia, as enjoyed by the "Little Emperor", Haile Gebrselassie, and their other distance greats.

Well, Dibaba beat him to it, and having won the 10,000-metre title last Sunday, she beat another Ethiopian, Meseret Defar, in the process. Though Ethiopian distance running is known for its camaraderie, Dibaba and Defar are strong rivals, and as with any great rivalry, they have split the supporters too.

Defar is from the right side of the tracks in Addis Ababa, the city girl trying to prove a match for the country girl Dibaba, now widely regarded as the most naturally talented female distance runner of all.

After the field had crawled around the opening laps, it boiled down to the sort of sprint finish Defar would normally have preferred - similar to that in Athens four years ago, when she won gold - but this time Dibaba had the higher gear and won in 15:41.4 - over a minute slower than the 14:40.79 Gabriela Szabo needed to beat Sonia O'Sullivan in Sydney eight years ago.

Defar faded and ended up losing the silver medal to Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse, who had also won silver in the 10,000 metres, and as she's effectively an Ethiopian in disguise, it was another clear reminder that Ethiopia are now the kings and queens of distance.

Bryan Clay of the US took decathlon gold, posting the biggest winning margin since 1972.

The 2004 Olympic silver medallist and 2005 world champion racked up 8,791 points over the 10 events finished 240 points ahead of the runner-up, Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus. Cuba's Leonel Suarez took bronze.

The night ended with the first gold medal on the track or field for Australia, and for the first time ever in the men's pole vault.

It kept all 91,000 in their seats until the end and for good reason. Steve Hooker, an extremely muscular 26-year-old, was in a fierce battle with Evgeny Lukyanenko, but when the Russian failed after clearing 5.85, Hooker stole the momentum, first clearing 5.90 and then posting an Olympic record of 5.96.

"There might be like 1,000 Aussies in here, but it sounds like there are 20,000," said Hooker with typical self-assurance. "It was more like boxing out there than the pole vault."

This restored a slightly more familiar look to the medal table, although there are still some notable absentees.

The Swedes, who won three gold medals on the track in Athens four years ago and were for years the kings of European athletics, have yet to land themselves a medal. Germany, until recently a superpower of world athletics, has secured just one athletics bronze, as have Greece, Canada, and Morocco.