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US win World Athletics C’ship, Jamaica finish second

Monday, August 24, 2009 BERLIN: United States won the World Athletics Championship while Jamaica came second and Kenya finished third.On the final day of the event held in Berlin, the US obtained gold medals in men’s and women’s 4X400m relay.Norway's two-time Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen ended his title drought at these championships after two silvers with gold at last. This is Norway’s only gold medal in the championship.Ethiopian superstar Kenenisa Bekele and Americans LaShawn Merritt and Sanya Richards won their second gold medals on the final day of the world athletics championships here on Sunday.Bekele's came in the 5,000 metres as he became the first man to do the 5,000-10,000m double, a feat even his compatriot Haile Gebrselassie failed to achieve the one time he tried in 1993.Merritt and Richards' second titles came in the men's and women's 400m relays respectively.There was to be no such joy for Yusuf Saad Kamel of Bahrain who, having taken the 1500m title, failed to repeat his golden performance in the 800m.That was was won by Mbulaeni Mulaudzi which meant the South Africans swept the 800m after Caster Semenya had won the women's equivalent.Bahrain's Maryam Jamal also completed a double, by defending her 1500 metres title, but only after Spaniard Natalia Rodriguez was disqualified after crossing the line first.The 30-year-old was adjudged to have pushed Ethiopian Gelete Burka down the back stretch sending her crashing to the ground and on seeing the video replay the Spanish team decided not to protest the decision.Earlier, China had claimed their first ever women's marathon world title when Xue Bai had taken gold.United States, with ten gold medals and 22 medals over all, achieved the first position while Jamaica with the help of seven gold medals finished second.

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