BEIJING — The last gold medal went to the United States as the veteran LaShawn Merritt ran another poised and powerful anchor leg to clinch victory in a tight 4x400-meter relay.
But if the final scene was very familiar, these track and field world championships did not follow the standard script.
The Americans, long the sport’s superpower, could not do better than third in the gold medal count, their lowest world championships ranking in history. With six golds, they finished behind the Kenyan and Jamaican teams, which each had seven.
Russia, rocked by suspensions and doping investigations, faded from prominence.