Beijing: Russia won the Olympic women's 4x100-meter relay title Friday while defending champion Jamaica failed to finish after botching the handoff between the third and fourth legs.
The Russians, who settled for Olympic silver in 2004, broke through with Evgeniya Polyakova, Aleksandra Fedoriva, Yulia Gushchina and anchor Yuliya Chermoshanskaya winning in 42.31 seconds.
Belgium, third at last year's worlds, was second in 42.54 with Nigeria third in 43.04. The Nigerians only prior Olympic medal in the event was a 1992 bronze.
The Jamaicans appeared set to complete an Olympic women's sprint sweep following a podium sweep of the 100m and Veronica Campbell-Brown's victory in the 200 until disaster struck.
Leadoff runner Shelly-Ann Fraser, the Olympic 100m champion, gave Jamaica the lead after the first leg and 100m runner-up Sheron Simpson stretched the margin as she approached 100m bronze medallist Kerron Stewart for a handoff.
But Stewart failed to grasp the baton as she reached back, looking in vain for the stick until it was far too late.
World 100m and double Olympic 200m champion Campbell-Brown could only imagine what her anchor leg might have been like as the Russians grabbed the lead in the final turn and Chemoshanskaya surged across the finish line.
While the Jamaicans flopped in the final, they were impressive in getting there. Their expected major rivals, the United States, never got that far.
The US women's relay dropped the baton on the final exchange in Thursday's heats and failed to qualify, an epic blunder that came just minutes after the US men's 4x100 relay botched the same exchange and were eliminated.
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