Two relay golds ease American pain

BEIJING, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- The United States won both 1,600-meter relays Saturday, helping take some of the sting off a disappointing Olympic track effort by the Americans.

Sanya Richards, who was at the center of one of previous setbacks, anchored the women's relay team to a victory of less than three-tenths of a second over Russia. Richards held off Russian anchorwoman Anastasia Kapachinskaya for the win.

The high-powered American men's team of LaShawn Merritt, Angelo Taylor, David Neville and Jeremy Wariner romped home almost three full seconds ahead of the Bahamas.

Merritt, Wariner and Neville swept the medals in the 400-meter run and Taylor won the 400-meter hurdles, so anything less than an American victory in the relay would have been considered a huge upset.

The two relay wins came after both the men's and women's U.S. sprint relay teams came to grief in the semifinals. Dropped batons caused the Americans to miss out on a medal chance in both races.

Struggles by other athletes further reduced the expected medal haul for the United States. Richards had been favored to win the 400, but wound up fourth. The Americans won seven track and field gold medals overall.

Other winners Saturday included Wilfred Bungei of Kenya in the 800, Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia in the 5,000, Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway in the javelin, Nancy Langat of Kenya in the 1,500 and Tia Hellebaut of Belgium in the high jump.