BEIJING — Bryan Clay was clearly enjoying his big moment Friday night, circling the edge of the Bird's Nest track with a U.S. flag after becoming the first American man to win the Olympic decathlon since 1996.

Then a roar went up from a crowd of 91,000.

Clay, looking a bit stunned, turned toward the cheers in time to see Usain Bolt romping to another gold medal, this time as the third leg of Jamaica's 4x100 relay.

Just like that, Clay was back in the shadows, like every other track athlete at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Like Michael Phelps in swimming, Bolt transcended the 2008 Games, winning gold medals and setting world records in the 100 (9.69), 200 (19.32) and 400 relay (37.10). He could pick up a fourth if he runs a leg on his country's 1,600-meter relay Saturday, another potential blow to the eclipsed American team, which blew baton handoffs during both the men and women's sprint relay semifinals.

"All I can say is, yo, Jamaican sprinters (are taking over the world," Bolt said. "We've always been the sprinters, but we're going to tell (the world) we're taking over forever, forever."

Clay, 28, was brilliant in his own way, dominating the decathlon with 8,791 points, well ahead of silver medalist Andrei Krauchank of Belarus (8,551). Reigning world champion and defending Olympic champion Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic slipped to sixth, unable to stay anywhere near Clay, the first American athlete to win the Olympic decathlon since Dan O'Brien during the Atlanta Games.

Clay led by only 88 points after the opening day of competion, but the 2005 world champion finished second in the 110 hurdles (13.93) today, won the discus and then all but clinched the gold in the javelin, which allowed him to coast through the 1,500 run, his sights already set on the London Games.

"It's the start of something good, and if my body holds up I'm hoping to be capable of doing this again in 2012," he said.

Kara Goucher finished ninth in the women's 5,000 meters, a week after placing 10th in the 10,000. Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia sprinted away on the bell lap to win the 5,000, completing an unprecented sweep of the women's 5,000-10,000 distance double.

Moments after walking off the track, Goucher, a former University of Colorado All-American, set her sights on the 2012 Games.

"I'm going to be back; I'm going to be better," she said after fading in the stretch, finishing in 15:49.39 to Dibaba's 15:41.40.

"I'm disappointed, but I fought today. I just ran out; I tried to flip the switch, and it wasn't there."

Goucher developed a sinus infection Tuesday and stayed in bed all day Wednesday, though she said it didn't affect her peformance.

"I'm gaining so much from this," she said. "It's been awesome. I was very tense when I first go here. Until Adam (her husband) got here, I was very emotional. I pride myself on mental toughness, but this is really a whole new level."

Men's 4x100 relay: 1. Jamaica (Nesta Carter; Michael Frater; Usain Bolt; Asafa Powell), 37.10. 2. Trinidad & Tobago (Keston Bledman; Marc Burns; Emmanuel Callender; Richard Thompson), 38.06. 3. Japan (Naoki Tsukahara; Shingo Suetsugu; Shinji Takahira; Nobuharu Asahara), 38.15. 4. Brazil (Vicente Lima; Sandro Viana; Bruno de Barros; Jose Carlos Moreira), 38.24. 5. Germany (Tobias Benjamin Unger; Till Helmke; Alexander Kosenkow; Martin Keller), 38.58. 6. Canada (Hank Palmer; Anson Henry; Jared Connaughton; Pierre Browne), 38.66. 7. Netherlands (Maarten Heisen; Guus Hoogmoed; Patrick van Luijk; Caimin Douglas), 45.81. NR. China (Wen Yongyi; Zhang Peimeng; Lu Bin; Hu Kai), DQ.

Men's pole vault: 1. Steve Hooker, Australia, 19-6 3/4. 2. Evgeny Lukyanenko, Russia, 19-2 1/4. 3. Denys Yurchenko, Ukraine, 18-8 1/2. 4. Derek Miles, Tea, S.D., 18-8 1/2. 5. Dmitry Starodubtsev, Russia, 18-8 1/2. 6. Danny Ecker, Germany, 18-8 1/2. 7. Jerome Clavier, France, 18-4 1/2. 8. Raphael Holzdeppe, Germany, 18-4 1/2. 9. Igor Pavlov, Russia, 18-4 1/2. 10. Jan Kudlicka, Czech Republic, 17-10 1/2. 11. Przemyslaw Czerwinski, Poland, 17-10 1/2. NR. Leonid Andreev, Uzbekistan, NM. NR. Giuseppe Gibilisco, Italy, NM.

Men's 50K race walk: 1. Alex Schwazer, Italy, 3:37:09. 2. Jared Tallent, Australia, 3:39:27. 3. Denis Nizhegorodov, Russia, 3:40:14. 4. Jesus Angel Garcia, Spain, 3:44:08. 5. Erik Tysse, Norway, 3:45:08. 6. Horacio Nava, Mexico, 3:45:21. 7. Yuki Yamazaki, Japan, 3:45:47. 8. Rafal Fedaczynski, Poland, 3:46:51. 9. Grzegorz Sudol, Poland, 3:47:18. 10. Luke Adams, Australia, 3:47:45. American: 39. Philip Dunn, San Diego, 4:08:32.

Decathlon: 1. Bryan Clay, Glendora Calif., 8,791. 2. Andrei Krauchanka, Belarus, 8,551. 3. Leonel Suarez, Cuba, 8,527. 4. Alexander Pogorelov, Russia, 8,328. 5. Romain Barras, France, 8,253. 6. Roman Sebrle, Czech Republic, 8,241. 7. Oleksiy Kasyanov, Ukraine, 8,238. 8. Andre Niklaus, Germany, 8,220. 9. Maurice Smith, Jamaica, 8,205. 10. Michael Schrader, Germany, 8,194. Other Americans: DNF, Trey Hardee, Austin, Texas; Tom Pappas, Manhattan, Kan.

Women's 4x100 relay: 1. Russia (Evgeniya Polyakova; Aleksandra Fedoriva; Yulia Gushchina; Yuliya Chermoshanskaya), 42.31. 2. Belgium (Olivia Borlee; Hanna Marien; Elodie Ouedraogo; Kim Gevaert), 42.54. 3. Nigeria (Franca Idoko; Gloria Kemasuode; Halimat Ismaila; Oludamola Osayomi), 43.04. 4. Brazil (Rosemar Coelho Neto; Lucimar de Moura; Thaissa Presti; Rosangela Santos), 43.14. 5. Germany (Annett Mollinger; Verena Sailer; Cathleen Tschirch; Marion Wagner), 43.28. NR. Britain (Jeanette Kwakye; Montell Douglas; Emily Freeman; Emma Ania), DNF. NR. Jamaica (Shelly-ann Fraser; Sherone Simpson; Kerron Stewart; Veronica Campbell-Brown), DNF. NR. Poland (Ewelina Klocek; Daria Korczynska; Dorota Jedrusinska; Joanna Henryka Kocielnik), DQ.

Women's 5,000: 1. Tirunesh Dibaba, Ethiopia, 15:41.40. 2. Elvan Abeylegesse, Turkey, 15:42.74. 3. Meseret Defar, Ethiopia, 15:44.12. 4. Sylvia Kibet, Kenya, 15:44.96. 5. Vivian Cheruiyot, Kenya, 15:46.32. 6. Lilia Shobukhova, Russia, 15:46.62. 7. Alemitu Bekele, Turkey, 15:48.48. 8. Meselech Melkamu, Ethiopia, 15:49.03. 9. Kara Goucher, Portland, Ore., 15:49.39. 10. Shalane Flanagan, Pittsboro, N.C., 15:50.80. 11. Priscah Jepleting Cherono, Kenya, 15:51.78. 12. Gulnara Galkina-Samitova, Russia, 15:56.97. 13. Xue Fei, China, 16:09.84. 14. Jen Rhines, Mammoth Lakes, Calif., 16:34.63. 15. Megan Metcalfe, Canada, 17:06.82.

Women's long jump: 1. Maurren Higa Maggi, Brazil, 23-1 1/4. 2. Tatyana Lebedeva, Russia, 23-0 3/4. 3. Blessing Okagbare, Nigeria, 22-8. 4. Chelsea Hammond, Jamaica, 22-3 1/4. 5. Brittney Reese, University, Miss., 22-2 1/4. 6. Oksana Udmurtova, Russia, 21-11 3/4. 7. Jade Johnson, Britain, 21-9 1/2. 8. Grace Upshaw, Los Altos Hills, Calif., 21-7. 9. Carolina Kluft, Sweden, 21-3 1/2. 10. Tabia Charles, Canada, 21-2 3/4. 11. Keila Costa, Brazil, 21-1 1/4. 12. Funmi Jimoh, Stafford, Texas, 20-7 3/4.