Usain Bolt accomplishes triple hat-trick

Jamaica's Usain Bolt competes in the Men's 4x100m Relay Final of Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug 19, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

RIO DE JANEIRO - Usain Bolt completed his third straight clean sweep of Olympic sprint events on Friday by leading Jamaica to victory in the men's 4x100m relay final.

Jamaica, also represented by Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmeade, clocked 37.27 seconds to beat Japan by 0.33 seconds, with Canada taking bronze in 37.64. The USA and Trinidad & Tobago were disqualified.

Japan's team comprised Ryota Yamagata, Yoshihide Kiryu, Iizuka Shota and Cambridge while Akeem Haynes, Brendon Rodney, Aaron Brown and Andre de Grasse ran for Canada.

Bolt began the final leg of the race trailing Japan's Aska Cambridge but quickly caught his rival before surging clear in the last 50m with his trademark burst.

The victory gave Bolt his ninth Olympic gold medal and secured an unprecedented three consecutive titles in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.

The 29-year-old won the 100m gold here by defeating long-time rival Justin Gatlin on Sunday. And on Thursday he clinched the 200m title by finishing ahead of Canada's Andre de Grasse.

China was upgraded to fourth place.