PARIS – High drama and edge-of-your-seat tension filled the Stade de France Sunday as Team USA came away with three relay medals – none of them easy, but all of them gold – at the 2003 IAAF World Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

After the final relay Sunday night, Team USA topped the medal charts for the meet with 20 medals: 10 gold, eight silver and two bronze. It was the Americans’ best medal performance at the World Outdoor Championships since 1993. Russia was second in the medal standings with 19 medals; six gold, eight silver, five bronze.

The men’s 4x100m relay team provided Sunday’s first dose of suspense as J.J. Johnson (Gainesville, Fla.) moved from third to first – running down British superstar Dwain Chambers – on the final leg to give Team USA its seventh world title in the event. Team USA finished in 38.06, followed by Great Britain in 38.08 and Brazil in 38.26.

World 200m champion John Capel (Gainesville, Fla.) got the U.S. out to an early lead on the first leg, which U.S. 100-meter champion Bernard Williams (Miramar, Fla.) held. The pass from Williams to 200m silver medalist Darvis Patton (Fort Worth, Texas) was a bit rough, and Johnson got the baton in third place, roughly a meter behind Chambers and marginally behind Brazil’s Claudio Roberto Souza coming off the turn.

Johnson’s self-professed weakness as a slow starter does not come into play in the relay, where a running start helps the former football player get his 6-3, 210-pound moving at top speed by the time he gets the baton. In Paris on Sunday, Johnson’s momentum and foot speed enabled him to catch 2002 European champion Chambers, considered one of the favorites in the 100 meters entering this meet, in the final steps of the relay.

The women’s 4x400-meter relay was equally suspenseful. Me’Lisa Barber (Columbia, S.C.) finished the first leg a close second place to Russia’s Olesya Zykina. Barber’s training partner, 2001 World University Games gold medalist Demetria Washington (Columbia, S.C.), got the baton and moved quickly to the lead. She was overtaken in the final stretch by 400m hurdles world record holder Yuliya Pechonkina of Russia. USA team captain and 1993 world 400m champion Jearl Miles-Clark (Knoxville, Tenn.) brought the U.S. nearly even with Russia at the end of the third leg.

A botched handoff between Russia’s 200m silver medalist Anastasiya Kapachinskaya and 400m fourth-place finisher Natalya Nazarova opened a window of opportunity for Sanya Richards, the 2003 USA and NCAA champion, to seize the lead immediately for the U.S. on the anchor leg. The 18-year-old Richards showed steely resolve belying her age in the final 100 meters, holding off Nazarova and Lorraine Fenton of Jamaica to seal the win for the U.S. in a world-leading time of 3:22.63. Russia finished second in 3:22.91, with Jamaica third in 3:22.92.

The men’s 4x400 meter relay, the final event of the meet, was action-packed and noise-filled as the French crowd cheered their national team to a near upset of the favored Americans. After an opening leg by Calvin Harrison (Salinas, Calif.), 400m silver medalist Tyree Washington (San Diego, Calif.) put the U.S. into the lead at the break and had a two-meter lead when he handed off to Derrick Brew (Baton Rouge, La.). Brew went out strong and extended the lead, but faded in the final stretch and handed off to anchor running Jerome Young (Fort Worth, Texas) inches behind Jamaica.

The 2003 world 400m champion, Young sat on Marc Raquil’s shoulder through the first 300 meters before moving into the lead coming off the final turn. Raquil, France’s 400m bronze medalist, fed off the deafening roar of the partisan crowd and nearly caught Young, who held on for the win in 2:58.88. France was second in a national record 2:58.96, and Jamaica was third in 2:59.60.

In individual finals Sunday, Amy Acuff (Austin, Texas) tied for 9th in the high jump with a clearance of 1.90m/6-2.75, with Hestrie Cloete of South Africa successfully defending her 2001 world title with a world-leading mark of 2.06m/6-9.75. Jorge Torres (Boulder, Colo.) placed 15th in the men’ 5,000 meters with a time of 13:43.37. The 5,000 provided yet another thrilled distance race at the 2003 World Championships as 1,500m champion Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco battled with Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya down the stretch. Kipchoge out-leaned Guerrouj for the win, running a championships record 12:52.79 to El Guerrouj’s 12:52.83.

The U.S. women’s marathon team placed 10th in team competition with a time of 7:48:30. Japan won the team title with a cumulative, three-person time of 7:14:48, and former world record holder Catherine Ndereba of Kenya won the individual gold medal in a championships-record time of 2:23:55. Leading the way for the Americans was Jill Gaitenby (Los Osos, Calif.), who placed 33rd with a personal-best time of 2:34:54. Linda Somers Smith (San Luis Obispo. Calif.) placed 37th (2:37:14), Tamara Lave (San Diego, Calif.) was 55th (2:46:22), and Kelly Keane placed 59th (2:55:26). Sylvia Mosqueda (Los Angeles, Calif.) did not finish.

For their performances, the Team USA’s women’s 4x400m relay team and Allen Johnson, who on Saturday won his record fourth world championship in the 110-meter hurdles and also was the team flag bearer, were named Xerox Team USA athletes of the meet.

For Team USA quotes and complete results, visit the USATF Web site, www.usatf.org