The United States came out on top in track duels with Jamaica at the Olympic Games when Aries Merritt flew to victory in the men’s 110 metre hurdles and Allyson Felix struck gold at her third attempt in the women’s 200m on Wednesday.

In the semi-finals of the men’s 200, Jamaicans Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake both cruised through their races to set up a second and potentially historic showdown at London 2012.

Russia‘s Natalya Antyukh just held on at the line to beat American Lashinda Demus in the women’s 400 metre hurdles.

In other action on Day 12 of the Games, Hungary claimed men’s and women’s canoeing titles and Steve Guerdat of Switzerland won individual show jumping gold.

China completed a second successive sweep of all Olympic titles in table tennis when its men’s team beat South Korea 3-0.

French and Spanish basketball players nearly came to blows, while Italy‘s men knocked out defending champions the United States in volleyball and Hungary in water polo.

TRACK RIVALRY

Eighty thousand spectators in the Olympic Stadium witnessed the latest instalment in a series of U.S.-Jamaican track showdowns, with the Americans this time coming out on top.

Felix, a silver medallist at the last two Olympics, strode out in the home straight to beat Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the Jamaican winner of the 100m, with Carmelita Jeter of the United States taking bronze.

“It’s been a long time coming. I’ve waited so long for this moment,” Felix said.

Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown, bidding for a third straight Olympic 200m title, came fourth.

The high hurdles was another U.S.-Jamaican affair, with Americans Merritt and Jason Richardson taking gold and silver, while Hansle Parchment got the bronze.

Bolt and Blake comfortably won their 200m semis, both easing up sharply towards the end. Blake, nicknamed ‘The Beast’, set the faster time of 20.01, seventeen-hundredths of a second faster than his training partner.

‘DOUBLE DOUBLE’

The pair will contest a 200m final on Thursday at which Bolt, champion in both sprints in 2008 and already the 100m victor in London, will seek the historic ‘double double’ that he says will make him a legend.

“He’s my good friend, and I think it’s going to be interesting,” Blake said.

Bolt said he was looking forward to the final of his favourite event and would win it “without a doubt”.

American Ashton Eaton opened his bid to become the best all-round male athlete of the Games with a 10.35-second 100m dash and long jump of 8.03 metres that put him in the lead of the decathlon.

SAUDI FIRST

Sarah Attar became the first woman from Saudi Arabia to compete in the Olympic athletics, coming last in an 800 heat she ran wearing a white head cover.

“It is the hugest honour to be here to represent the women of Saudi Arabia. It is an historic moment. I hope it will make a difference. It is a huge step forward. It’s a really incredible experience,” said Attar, who also has U.S. citizenship and is a student at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles.

Compatriot Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani similarly bowed out at the first hurdle, lasting just 80 seconds on the judo mat last week, but the pair have been hailed as heroines by many in their homeland and around the world.

Russia’s 30-year-old double Olympic champion and world record holder in the women’s pole vault, Yelena Isinbayeva, told Reuters on Wednesday she would compete again in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 having come a disappointing third in the London Games.

Her compatriot Ivan Ukhov revealed that he had been forced to borrow a T-shirt from a team mate to make his winning leap in the men’s high jump on Tuesday after his own vest was stolen midway through the competition.

It may even have helped. The shirt belonged to fellow Russian and 2008 Olympic champion Andrei Silnov.

“I guess Andrei being the 2008 champion just passed me the good luck,” Ukhov told Russian media.

IRISH CHAMP

Ireland‘s Katie Taylor beat a Tajik opponent to set up a women’s lightweight boxing final on Thursday against Russia’s Sofya Ochigava.

In the middleweight final, 17-year-old Claressa Shields of the United States will face another Russian, Nadezhda Torlopova, who at 33 is nearly twice her age.

The U.S. men’s boxing team left the Olympics without a medal for the first time. “They weren’t worth watching, every single one of them was garbage,” multiple weight world champion James Toney told Reuters.

Spain broke open a fierce defensive battle in the final minute to beat France 66-59 and reach the semi-finals of the Olympic men’s basketball tournament in a bad-tempered contest that threatened to turn into a brawl.

“Everybody wants to fight for those medals. Sometimes it gets a little out of hand because emotions get involved. Nobody got hurt, that’s the most important thing,” Spain’s Marc Gasol said.

Three-quarters of the way through the Games, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said he was satisfied with the way they had gone so far.

“All in all I would say these are very good Games and I am a very happy man,” he told reporters.

reuters