Day 13 Roundup: Bolt first man to retain both sprint titles as US overtakes China as No. 1 on gold tally

By Sportswriter Wang Zijiang

LONDON, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Usain Bolt of Jamaica won the 200 meters on Thursday to become the first man to retain 100 and 200 titles at the Olympic Games as Chinese diver Chen Ruolin took her country's 200th gold medal at summer Olympic Games from the women's 10m platform.

The 1.96m Bolt, who won both the 100 and 200 in world record times in Beijing four years ago, took the 100 on Sunday and went on to cruise to victory in 200 with a time of 19.32 seconds in front of a capacity crowd at the Olympic Stadium.

The 25-year-old then replaced American legend Carl Lewis as the most successful sprinter in history. Lewis won three golds and a silver in the sprints at the 1984 and 1988 Games. His fellow Jamaicans Yohan Blake and Warren Weir finished second and third in 19.44 and 19.84 respectively.

"I'm now a legend. I'm also the greatest athlete to live," Bolt said. "It was a lot of pressure. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, but I came through."

Chen's gold was China's sixth out of seven in diving at London. They only missed the men's three meters springboard two days ago. It was also China's 200th gold medal at the summer Olympic Games since sharpshooter Xu Haifeng won their first at Los Angeles in 1984.

Chen, 19, also the reigning champion, impressed spectators with her stable performances and collected 422.30 points in total, beating second-placed Australian Brittany Broben by 55.8 points. The bronze went to Pamg Pandelela Rinong of Malaysia.

Her epic victory made her winner of both individual and synchro platform events at two consecutive Olympic Games, the second diver for such remarkable achievements following legendary Guo Jingjing.

Chen said she was fully aware that the hope of the 200th gold lay on her before the competition. But she managed to shrug off the pressure and impressed spectators with her stable performances in all her dives.

"I've participated in many big events and I have learnt from each competition. I was so relaxed in the final as if I were doing a routine training," said Chen, champion of the 2011 Shanghai World Championships.

But that was the day's only gold for China and with 37 golds, 24 silvers and 19 bronzes, they lost the top position on the medal tally to the United States, who won five golds on Thursday to take their tally to 39.