Bolt, crowned as the 100m champion Saturday by clocking a world record time of 9.69 seconds, finished the 200m race in 19.30 seconds, beating the previous mark by 0.02 seconds.

There was more joy for Jamaica when Melanie Walker took the women's 400m hurdles title in 52.64 seconds, and Aksana Miankova won the hammer throw gold for Belarus in the day's only other medal events at the Bird's Nest stadium.

Meanwhile, the Russian legion finally got into gear, though it seemed a little late.

One gold apiece in marathon swimming, synchronized swimming and wrestling propelled the perennial sporting power past Germany and Australia into fourth place on 13 golds in the medal table.

As the Beijing Games draw toward a close this weekend, Russia faces an uphill battle to catch up with host China and the United States.

China picked up two gold medals on Day 12 with Yin Jian in sailing and Wu Jingyu in taekwondo to top the medal table with 45 gold. The United States followed on 26 and Britain was third on 16.

Larisa Ilchenko set the pace for the Russians with a hard-earned victory in the women's 10km open water swim. The 20-year-old Ilchenko staged a powerful sprint in the last 100 meters, edging Britain's Keri-Anna Payne by merely 1.5 seconds.

South African Natalie du Toit, whose left leg was amputated at the knee after a motorcycle accident, became the first female Paralympian to compete in the Olympics. She finished 16th in the field of 24, 1:22 behind Ilchenko.

"I don't even think about not having a leg and if I want to keep competing I will have to continue to qualify with the able-bodied," du Toit told reporters. "For me it's not about disability at all. Hopefully I'll be back for 2012."

Ilchenko also showed due respect for her South African rival.

"I would even go as far as offering her a separate medal," she said. "I wish her all success for the future and hopefully she will win one day."

Along with BMX biking, the 10km open water swim was making its debut at the Olympic Games.

Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova extended Russia's dominance in synchronized swimming when the duo won the duet competition.

The silver went to Spain's Andrea Fuentes and Gemma Mengual, while Japanese pair Sara Harada and Emiko Suzuki earned bronze ahead of China's Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen.

Russia swept the two gold medals in synchronized swimming at the past two Olympics.

Buvaysa Saytiev of Russia won his third Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medal when he defeated Soslan Tigiev of Uzbekistan in the 74kg final. Saytiev had won Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2004.

Yin Jian improved on her silver gold medal finish in Athens four years ago to strike gold in the women's RS:X sailing event in Qingdao, while New Zealand's Tom Ashley won the men's RS:X event. Yin finished with 39 points from the 11 races, edging Italy's Alessandra Sensini by one point.

"I didn't think about anything during today's race. I knew that, if I kept passing one after another, victory would be mine," said the 29-year-old Chinese.

World champion Wu Jingyu lived up to all the hype around her when the 21-year-old Chinese defeated Thai Buttree Puedpong in the women's 49kg class taekwondo final.

China's hopes of advancing for the first time to the semifinals of Olympic men's basketball tournament were smashed when they went down 72-59 to Lithuania. The Chinese team's final ranking was eighth, equaling their previous best showing at Athens 2004.

Lithuania, three-time Olympic bronze medalist, will play Spain in the semifinals after Pau Gasol led the world champion to a 72-59 victory over Croatia.

"To finish eighth here is much more difficult than four years ago," said the Houston Rockets center. "It's really a pity we didn't make a better result here."

In stark contrast, China reached its first-ever Olympic women's field hockey final with a 3-2 win over defending champion Germany. The Chinese, who were beaten by Germany in the semifinals in a penalty shoot-out in Athens, will meet the Dutch in the gold-medal game.

In men's beach volleyball, Americans Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers set up a final showdown against Brazilians Fabio Magalhaes and Marcio Araujo.

Dalhausser and Rogers outclassed Jorge Terceiro and Renato Gomes of Georgia 21-11, 21-13, while Magalhaes and Araujo upset Brazilian teammates and defending gold medalists Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego 22-20, 21-18.

On the doping front, Ukaine's heptathlon silver medalist Liudmyla Blonska tested positive for banned substances.

"The IOC is looking into this matter and the IOC disciplinary commission will hold a meeting tomorrow (on Thursday)," IOC spokeswoman Sandrine Tonge told Xinhua.

Tonge added that any decision regarding possible penalty on Blonska should be taken by the IOC executive board.

It was unclear at the moment for which substance she tested positive.

Blonska finished second in the women's heptathlon behind compatriot Natalya Dobrynska on Saturday. But the 29-year-old Ukrainian, who served a doping suspension between 2003-2005, could be stripped of her medal and banned for life if the IOC rules she has committed a second offence.

Four athletes have been expelled from the Games so far over doping offense.