The 12th World Athletics Championships in Germany ended on Sunday. As our correspondent reports from Berlin, Americans won gold in three events on the final day to finish at the top of the medals table.
The United States captured the final event of the nine day-long championships, winning the men's 4x400 meter relay with a world-leading time of 2:57.86.
Kerron Clement told VOA Sports that the team was confident it would do well.
"You know, the plan was to come out here and win a gold medal and we did that," said Kerron Clement. "We ran all four good legs."
Before that, the United States won the women's 4x400 crown, breaking the tape in 3:17.83, which was also a world-leading time.
Debbie Dunn says it was a team effort.
"I had talented girls on my team, so we tried to put it out there [to] make up for all the gold we didn't get," said Debbie Dunn.
The women also wrapped up the 1,500 meters and long jump competition. Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain took the 1,500-meter gold in 4:3.74, while a leap of 7.10 meters clinched the long jump world title for American Brittney Reese.
Reese told VOA Sports how she made her winning jump.
"The coach that was helping me told me [said] I needed more speed," said Brittney Reese. "I came down with more speed and popped it right off."
Men earned gold in three other events. Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen won the javelin throw with a season's best toss of 89.59 meters. Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia won his second gold of the championships - this time in the men's 5,000 meters, after winning the 10,000 meters on Monday, with a time of 13:17.09. And Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa was the 800 meters champion in 1:45.29.
In the opening event on Sunday, Xue Bai of China was the first to cross the Brandenburg Gate finish line to win the women's marathon gold medal in 2:25:15.
The final medal count showed the United States at the top of the table with a total of 22 - including 10 gold, six silver and six bronze. Jamaica finished second with seven gold, four silver and two bronze for a total of 13. Third place went to Kenya with four gold, five silver and two bronze.
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