Carl Lewis bade farewell to his glorious international career by anchoring his dream team to victory in the Golden Four finale in Berlin last night. The nine-time Olympic champion marked his last appearance in Europe before retirement with victory in a sprint relay quartet that included four of the fastest men on earth.
Fittingly, the American's final race on the continent was in the Olympic Stadium that Jesse Owens graced when he dominated Hitler's Olympics in 1936 by winning four golds.
Lewis matched Owens's achievement in Los Angeles in 1984 and went on to win the long jump title for the fourth time in a row in Atlanta last year before deciding to bring his career to a close this season.
The 36-year-old bowed out a winner as the quartet that also included world 100 metres record-holder Donovan Bailey, former record-holder Leroy Burrell and Frankie Fredericks triumphed in 38.24.
The time was outside the official world record, of which Lewis has a share, but that was immaterial to the 60,000 crowd who gave Lewis a hero's exit.
"This place means a lot to me because this is where the person I admire the most, Jesse Owens, made history," said Lewis.
"I have no regrets and I don't feel bitter. I have achieved everything that I could possibly have dreamed of and even more. Now it's time for a new start."
Lewis told the fans that he would be making no surprise comebacks. "I'm still fit and I still love to run so I might appear in a race for charity or for fun now and again but when I do it, don't you be mistaken, I will not be back."But while Lewis' final race was the centre of attention, elsewhere it was focused on who would share the 20 gold bars - worth £100,000 - awarded to winners in the Golden Four meetings.
All three athletes - Gabriela Szabo, Fredericks and Hicham El Guerrouj - who went into the meeting still in with a chance after victories in Oslo, Zurich and Brussels completed a golden clean sweep.
Szabo was the first to ensure a slice of the jackpot as the world 5,000 metres champion in Athens was again a class apart, controlling the race before sprinting away in the final 200 metres to win in 14 minutes 44.35 seconds.
Paula Radcliffe was unable to match her British record-breaking exploits of Brussels, finishing nearly five seconds off her time then by fading to third in 14:50.32 behind Kenya's Lydia Cheromei.
Soon afterwards Fredericks bagged his share, pulling clear in the final 20 minutes to win in 9.99 seconds with Olympic champion Donovan Bailey and American Tim Montgomery equal second in 10.05.
Victory also clinched Fredericks a small piece of history as the first man ever to win a Golden Four series in consecutive years. He had taken the 200 metres in Berlin last year when he beat Michael Johnson.
Then it was the turn of El Guerrouj, who emerged victorious in the mile as Daniel Komen saw his planned world record attempt fizzle out.
The Moroccan world 1,500 metres champion sprinted past his Kenyan rival with 250 metres to go and then held off Komen's half-hearted counter-attack to win in 3:45.64.
The time was just over a second outside Noureddine Morceli's world record, but was still the third fastest in history. Only Morceli has gone quicker.
But Komen at least retained the world 5,000 metres record he captured in Brussels last Friday. Haile Gebrselassie looked jaded after his exploits this summer and was well outside the mark. Marcus O'Sullivan was ninth in a season's best 3:52.04.
In the women's 100 metres, Marion Jones, who won the world title in Athens in the world's best time, confirmed her supremacy, clocking 10.81 seconds to relegate Merlene Ottey and Gail Devers into second and third places.
