Anthony Foster, Star Writer

Left: Usain Bolt celebrates winning the gold and setting a new world record in the men's 200-metre final. at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China yesterday. Right: Melaine Walker celebrates winning the gold in the women's 400-metre hurdles.

beijing. china

Outstanding performances from double-gold medallist Usain Bolt and 400m hurdler Melaine Walker, pushed Jamaica to its highest-ever gold medal tally at an Olympic games.

Prior to last night's blissful outing, the Jamaicans had never won more than two gold medals at one Olympic Games. Bolt and Walker delivered two in just 15 minutes, bringing the total gold medal count to four in addition to three silver medals.

George Rhoden and the men's 4x400m team in 1952 and Veronica Campbell-Brown and the women's sprint relay quartet in 2004, are tied for Jamaica's highest total previously, two gold.

Usain Bolt, on the eve of his 22nd birthday produced another spectacular performance, with yet another world record, this time in the 200 metres, shaving two-hundreds of a second off the 19.32 mark held since 1996 by the great Michael Johnson.

Brilliant Melaine

Minutes later, a brilliant 400 metres hurdles run, in an Olympic and national record 52.64, by Melaine Walker pushed Jamaica's medal tally here to seven overall. Walker had vowed to break the women's 400m world record but in the end settled for the Olympic record.

According to Ludlow Watts, manager of Jamaica's track & field team to the games of the 29th Olympiad, this has exceeded expectations at this stage.

"I think at this stage we have exceeded our expectations and from all indications we will continue to do well in these games," said manager Watts.

"We have some events left in which we are very prominent, three relays (men's and women's 4x100m, women's 4x400m) ... four relays (men's 4x400m additional) and decathlon (with Maurice Smith), so I believe in terms of the quality of medals, and possibility quantity, we will definitely achieve our best performance at the Olympic Games," he said.

Mining 'miracles'

"The fact we have got four gold medals, that in itself is an extremely good performance and any country that achieved this apart from the United States, would be what you would regard as a miracle," Watts boasted.

Jamaica could be in line for another three gold medals, with Veronica Campbell-Brown, Sherone Simpson or Kerron Stewart, along with both sprint relay teams, yet to compete in the finals of their events. Overall, Jamaica have won 44 medals at the Olympic Games, since their first outing in 1948.