Paulton Gordon, Contributor

HELLO FROM Beijing.

The general view here (on Friday) is that things have fallen into place very well and our athletes have performed up to and sometimes beyond expectations. Frankly, a medal haul of 10, inclusive of six gold, by any measure must be considered a phenomenal performance.

There are a few events in which the Jamaican team could have added to the tally, but it just did not happen. These included the 100m hurdles for women, the heptathlon, and a second medal in the 100m for men.

Sitting in the stadium and watching the second exchange in the 4x100m for women going bad was devastating, to say the least. You could hear a pin drop in the Jamaican corner when they realised that the gold medal had literally slipped out of our hands. From our vantage point, it appeared that Kerron started moving a bit early, tried to adjust and then the medal hopes came crashing down.

Sherone went over to console her, after which, Veronica joined the girls as they embraced. The announcer had commented just prior to the race that all four women were medal winners in the current games, thus underlying how much of a prohibitive favourite this team was supposed to be. After eight days of track and field, this was probably the first time I had seen Jamaican fans looking glum and upset.

Bolt triple

Within an hour of the mishap, the now-nervous Jamaican camp erupted into unbridled joy. The reason: Carter, Frater, Bolt to Asafa. The flash time of 37.10 seconds was confirmed as a new world record, which meant that Bolt had copped his third gold in record time. The exchanges were conservative, yet clean, and the men certainly took some of the hurt away. On the victory lap, we requested that lightening Bolt showcase his signature pose and he happily obliged

Our usual post-event 'lyme' started at gate G where we were joined by fans of Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and China in celebrating another remarkable performance. Although the memories of the failed baton change linger on, a sixth gold is cause for celebration.

One thing is for sure: Jamaica is leaving a huge footprint in China, and has captivated a fair chunk of the four-billion television audience who has witnessed this showpiece event over the last 15 days.

- Paulton Gordon