United States' Sanya Richards (right) celebrates winning the gold medal as Jamaica's silver medal winner Shericka Williams looks on after the Women's 400m final at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin yesterday.

BERLIN, Germany:

Sanya Richards crossed the line in America's red, white and blue to win her first major gold medal at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics (WCA) here yesterday, but it was inspiration from her Jamaican heritage which she called on for the final victory push.

"I've never tried to deny my Jamaican roots and I'm very, very proud of Jamaicans," the Jamaican-born runner said after clocking a world leading time of 49 seconds to finish ahead of Jamaica's Shericka Williams (personal best 49.32), to lock up the elusive title of world champion in the women's 400 metres.

"Even today I think I pulled on some of my Jamaican strength and speed to be able to finish that race."

Additional boost

Richards, who has long been the world's top ranked quarter-miler, but fell into the runner-up spot at several major meets, including the WCA and Olympic Games, also found additional boost in the performance of other Jamaican athletes here. Triple world record holder Usain Bolt was a primary source of energy.

"I'm just excited to be a part of this great era of great athletes, the Jamaicans and the Americans," said the 24-year-old of the man who smashed his own 100 metres mark here on Sunday. "And the Jamaicans keep pushing the bar down ... . In the last 100 (metres) I wanted to channel Usain and run as fast as I could.

"I really admire Usain. He's an amazing athlete, very humble," she added. "I think he is so great for our sport. So I'm happy to be in the same time as him."

Richards was also appreciative of Williams' response to her win.

There has always been a warm reception for Richards in the land of her birth. She left the island as a youngster after attending Vaz Preparatory and Immaculate Conception High School, but chose to run for the United States because, she said, the country offered more help to pursue a career in athletics. But yesterday Williams was quick to embrace her win.

"(Williams) was the first to come and say 'you deserve it'," said Richards, who ran a well-timed race.

Williams said she too was "happy" for Richards.

"I think this is major ... for her," the Jamaican said.

Richards' support contingent here, including her Jamaican-born parents Sharon and Archie, were overjoyed that she won.

Her mother cried and her father said he was more relieved, but admitted he struggled to keep back tears.

Both acknowledged Jamaica's role in their daughter's victory.

"Neither of us would ever try to deny our heritage," the father said. "We can't deny that Jamaica also has something to do with (Sanya's win)."

However, the parents said they had a lesser role in getting Richards ready for the WCA, even as their daughter struggled to contain an outbreak of Behcet's, an autoimmune disease that attacks and harms body tissue, causing lesions to break out on the skin.

Ready to run

But the parents of the new world champion said their daughter was ready to run.

"She was way more confident going into these games," mom said.

As for the ghosts of past failures, Richards said she was relieved to have finally shaken them.

"Of course ... I worked really hard for this," she said. "So I was very, very happy to finally be a world champion. I don't care about anything in the past. All I'm thinking about now is the fact that I finally did it."

With a little help from her roots.

Medals Table

BERLIN (AP):

Medals table from the World Athletics Championships: (After 18 of 49 events)

Nation	G	S	B	Tot
United States	3	2	2	7
Jamaica	2	2	1	5
Russia	2	1	4	7
Kenya	2	1	2	5
Britain	2	0	0	2
Poland	1	3	1	5
Germany	1	2	1	4
Cuba	1	1	1	3
Ethiopia	1	1	1	3
New Zealand	1	0	0	1
Slovenia	1	0	0	1
Spain	1	0	0	1
China	0	1	2	3
Czech Republic	0	1	0	1
Eritrea	0	1	0	1
Ireland	0	1	0	1
Portugal	0	1	0	1
Puerto Rico	0	1	0	1
France	0	0	1	1
Mexico	0	0	1	1