The XXIX Olympiad in Beijing has been superb: The United States and China have both had ample cause to celebrate. The American people are rejoicing in the amazing achievements of Michael Phelps and his eight gold medals and seven world records in swimming.

The Chinese people can celebrate a host of magnificent gymnasts and divers, notably the masterful performances of He Chong and Guo Jingjing in the men and women's 3-meter springboard diving contests. Chen Ruolin's fabulous final dive Thursday gave China a perfect seven for seven golds in diving to that point. China is now so far ahead of the United States in gold medals with 28 to 46 as of Thursday that it appears impossible for the Americans to catch up with them. The United States had to settle for holding off the Chinese in beach volleyball, where Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor took the gold by winning their 108th match in a row -- one of the most astonishing streaks in the entire history of competitive sports.

But the little Caribbean island of Jamaica is riding highest of all. Usain Bolt, in only his first year of competitive 100-meter sprint contests, won gold, shattering the world record. And now he's taken the 200 meters and smashed that world record as well.

So supreme was Bolt that in the 100-meter race -- which determines the coveted title of the fastest human being alive -- he actually slowed down at the 80-meter mark and happily waved to the crowd as he coasted home. He still broke the world record by 0.03 seconds, bringing it down to 9.69 seconds. He was already the world recorder holder at the old mark of 9.72 seconds. If he hadn't slowed down, the experts believe he could even have driven the world record down below 9.60.

And now he's done it again with his 200-meter triumph. It is the first time in history that the 100-meter and 200-meter world records have been broken by one man at the same Olympics. Bolt broke the 1996 world record of the legendary Michael Johnson -- a mark that many thought could not be surpassed for decades. And he did so with the laid-back good humor and graciousness he embodies.

Nor was Bolt alone in triumph for Jamaica. Veronica Campbell-Brown won the 200-meter women's sprint Thursday, defending her 2004 Athens gold medal. Shelly-Ann Fraser won the 100-meter women's Olympic gold last weekend. Tiny Jamaica is now the only nation apart from the United States ever to have won all four Olympic sprint races at the same Olympic Games. The United States did it at the 1964, 1984 and 1988 games.

Bolt's amazing achievements remind us of additional reasons why the Olympic Games are so wonderful. Victory does not always go to the big battalions. Tiny Jamaica won the four proudest crowns in track and field at these Games: the United States, China and Russia did not get an elbow in.

In sports, if not in power politics and war, victory does not always go to the most populous or wealthiest nations or the ones that have and devote the most resources to training their athletes.

There had been a great deal of anticipation as to whether China's enormous state-sponsored sports recruiting and training programs would prevail over the superlatively well-funded U.S. decentralized state, local and free-market model. But when it came to producing the fastest men and women on Earth, both systems had to stand aside and let tiny Jamaica do it. One senses the guiding spirits of the great Olympic movement were making a none-too-subtle point themselves.

The Olympic guiding spirits made another point, too: Huge expectations were focused on Phelps at the beginning of these Games, and he certainly delivered big. The Chinese people were rooting for their great hero, 2004 Athens Olympic gold medalist Liu Xiang in the 110-meter hurdles, but sadly an injury prevented him from progressing even to the event final this time. The gold went to Dayron Robles of Cuba.

The timeless words of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible were confirmed yet again: The race is not always to the swift or the battle to the strong -- time and chance happen to them all.

But when the race does go to the swift, as it assuredly did with Bolt, the sight can be joyous beyond words and glorious to behold.