Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Usain Bolt of Jamaica set a world record in winning the men's 100-meter title at the Beijing Games, where Michael Phelps moved within one gold medal of beating Mark Spitz's record seven at an Olympics.

Bolt claimed track and field's premier title in 9.69 seconds, gesturing to the crowd and slapping his chest before crossing the finish line. He finished 0.2 second ahead of Trinidad's Richard Thompson, while Walter Dix of the U.S. took the bronze medal.

Phelps's race was a closer run contest, as he edged Serbia's Milorad Cavic by 0.01 second with his final stroke to win the 100-meter butterfly swim. The decision was so close that the Serbian team protested it, against Cavic's wishes. The result stood, giving Phelps a record 13 gold medals in all.

``It was almost too close to see,'' Phelps, 23, told reporters at the Water Cube pool. ``One one-hundredth of a second is the smallest margin of victory in our sport. I guess it's pretty cool.''

Spitz, who won his seven golds in Munich in 1972, congratulated Phelps in a televised interview with NBC, calling his performance ``epic.''

``I never thought for one moment that you were out of that race,'' Spitz said.

Phelps, who broke the mark for career Olympic golds this week, gets a $1 million bonus from Speedo, one of his sponsors. He can break Spitz's record with a victory in tomorrow's 400 medley relay, an event the U.S. has won at every Olympics in which it's competed.

16 Golds for U.S.

Phelps helped lift the U.S. to 16 gold medals on the eighth day of competition. China moved to a Games-leading 27 after Zhang Ning successfully defended her badminton singles title by beating top-ranked countrywoman Xie Xingfang. In total medals, it's 54 for the U.S. to China's 46.

Bolt's win gave Jamaica its first medal of the Games.

The 21-year-old Bolt, who only took up the 100 meters as ``speed work'' to prepare for his favored 200 meters, became the first Jamaican and second athlete from the Caribbean to win the men's 100-meter dash after Trinidad's Hasely Crawford in 1976.

Fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell was fifth, while Tyson Gay of the U.S. failed to qualify for the final.

Switzerland's Roger Federer may secure a first Olympic gold medal today. The 12-time Grand Slam tennis champion plays in the men's doubles final with Stanislas Wawrinka against Sweden's Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson.

Longest Record

Two world records, including swimming's longest-standing mark, fell in today's other finals at the Water Cube. A total of 23 swimming world bests have been set in Beijing -- nine more than in Sydney in 2000 and 15 more than at Athens 2004.

Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain led all the way in the women's 800-meter freestyle to take more than two seconds off Janet Evans's 19-year-old world best.

``It means everything to me,'' Adlington, 19, told reporters after securing her second title this week. ``It's amazing to win gold and break the world record.''

Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe also set a world best in winning the women's 200 backstroke to end her run of three runner-up finishes in Beijing.

Cesar Cielo Filho, 21, gave Brazil its first gold of the Games with an Olympic record in the men's 50 freestyle, beating French duo Amaury Leveaux and Alain Bernard.

On the track, Valeriy Borchin gained Russia a gold by holding off 1996 champion Jefferson Perez of Ecuador to win the men's 20-kilometer race walk.

Collapse

Perez collapsed after the race, which was staged in temperatures in the mid-70s Fahrenheit (24 Celsius), because of heat exhaustion and later recovered, track doctors said. Beijing was experiencing another day of blue skies and low pollution.

Vincent Hancock added to the U.S.'s gold total by winning the men's skeet shooting, while Carol Huynh gave Canada its first gold of the Games with a win in the women's 48-kilogram wrestling event.

Australia claimed two of the seven gold medals available in rowing today to move within three of the eight golds of third- placed Germany. Great Britain won two of three cycling golds and one in rowing to match Australia at seven for the Games. Japan also has seven as Saori Yoshida won the women's 55kg wrestling.

Brazil advanced to the men's soccer semifinals with a 2-0 extra-time victory over Cameroon and will next face Belgium, which defeated Italy 3-2 after playing most of the match with 10 players.

Djokovic Bronze

Australian Open tennis champion Novak Djokovic beat James Blake of the U.S. 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) to secure the men's singles bronze medal. Spain's Rafael Nadal faces Fernando Gonzalez of Chile for the gold tomorrow.

Chris Hoy helped Britain win the men's cycling team sprint to add another gold medal to his men's keirin title in Beijing.

The International Olympic Committee today stripped Sweden's Ara Abrahamian of his wrestling bronze medal for violating the ``spirit of fair play'' when he threw it away during the awards ceremony. Abrahamian said he lost his Greco-Roman semifinal match two days ago because of ``blatant errors in judging.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Grant Clark in Beijing at gclark@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 16, 2008 10:59 EDT