* Usain Bolt and Jamaica race to 4x100 record
* Mo Farah wins 5,000m to add to 10,000m title
* Syrian athlete expelled from Games for doping
* Mexico stun Brazil to win men's soccer final 2-1
* Busiest day of Games with 32 golds decided
LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Usain Bolt and Jamaica's
speedsters smashed the 4x100 metres world record, Britain's Mo
Farah brought London to its feet with another golden distance
win and Mexico broke Brazilian soccer hearts in a thrilling
penultimate day of Olympic action.
But Saturday's sporting highs were tempered by news that a
Syrian runner was expelled from the Games for doping and a South
Korean soccer player was barred from a medal ceremony for
staging a political protest after a bronze playoff with Japan.
In a day brimming with golden opportunities - 32 titles were
up for grabs - Bolt kissed off his one-man Olympic show to lead
Jamaica home for gold in a blistering relay that brought
London's track and field events to a shimmering close.
Bolt added that title to the 'double double' he won in the
100m and 200m, defending both after his Beijing triumphs and
writing his way into Olympic history as one of the finest - and
zaniest - sprinters the world has known.
As he crossed the line, Bolt cupped his hands in an 'M'
shape above his head - a nod to Farah who had earlier run away
from the pack to win the hosts' first men's 5,000m gold.
"It's always a beautiful feeling to end off like this," Bolt
said. The quartet of Bolt, Yohan Blake, Michael Frater and Nesta
Carter darted around the track in 36.84 seconds, beating their
own record and leaving the United States trailing in their wake.
Farah, who snatched the 10,000m crown in London just days
ago, is the seventh man to win both races at the same Olympics
and the trailblazer of a British team that has claimed more
medals than at any Games in more than a century.
"I wanted a gold medal for each of my two girls on the way,"
said the 29-year-old, whose wife Tania is heavily pregnant.
"They could come any day now."
Russia's world champion Mariya Savinova saw off South
African Caster Semenya to win the women's 800m, the U.S.
triumphed in the women's 4x400m relay and Trinidad and Tobago's
Keshorn Walcott struck a surprise gold in the javelin.
DOPING CLOUD
The final few moments of Olympic glory in track and field
bring a close to an eventful penultimate day of the Games in
which startling athletic prowess did not always dominate the
headlines.
Syrian athlete Ghfran Almouhamad, who competed in the
women's 400 metres hurdles, was the 11th athlete to be thrown
out of the Games since the start of the Olympic period, which
began on July 16, after testing positive for a banned substance.
The 10-strong Syrian team has attracted considerable media
attention during London 2012, less for its sporting achievements
than the bloody conflict raging at home between rebels and
forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
Politics also crashed the party when the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) called for a South Korea soccer player
to be banned from a medal ceremony after he held up a poster
referring to his country's long-running territorial dispute with
Japan - after the two teams had just battled for the bronze.
Five-time world champions Brazil's long quest for Olympic
soccer gold continues after Mexico stunned the usually stylish
South Americans with a 2-1 win.
Oribe Peralta put Mexico ahead after just 28 seconds and
added their second in the 75th minute with a header before Hulk
replied for Brazil in stoppage time in front of a London Games
record crowd of 86,162 at Wembley Stadium.
The Brazilians, glittering with the considerable talents of
Neymar, Hulk and Oscar, had been favourites for the title but
failed to threaten a more direct and efficient Mexican side.
Brazil's women provided some consolation, beating the United
States to gold in the volleyball.
The upsets spread to the pool where Chinese divers Qiu Bo
and Lin Yue could not better the efforts of American David
Boudia in the 10m event. Qiu won silver and Britain's Tom Daley,
cheered on by English soccer player David Beckham, took bronze.
But there was no surprise in the women's basketball where
the U.S. claimed a fifth straight gold by thrashing France 86-50
to extend their Olympics winning streak to 41 games.
In the ring, Ukraine's Oleksandr Usyk claimed the men's
heavyweight crown while classy light-welterweight Roniel
Iglesias Sotolongo won Cuba's first boxing gold in eight years
and Britain's Luke Campbell took the bantamweight title.
The hosts have claimed 28 gold medals, comfortably beating
their Beijing tally of 19. It puts them third in the overall
medals table, which the United States top on 44 to China's 38.
With one day of Olympian effort left, Sunday's highlights
include the toughest running event - the marathon - and the
showcase men's basketball final, which sees pre-tournament
favourites the U.S. taking on a dangerous Spain side.
"PARTY, PARTY"
Organisers have less than 24 hours to prepare the stadium
for the closing ceremony, which artistic director Kim Gavin said
would celebrate British pop music from the last 50 years.
The Spice Girls, One Direction, George Michael and The Who
are expected to perform as London prepares to bid goodbye to
what the Guardian newspaper dubbed the "feelgood Games".
Games chief Sebastian Coe declined to compare London with
other Olympics, but said simply: "I'm pretty pleased with the
way we've delivered."
"Party, party, party," he told a news briefing when asked to
describe the closing concert ending a drama-filled few weeks.
Forecasters point to a warm and dry day in London to bring
to a close a festival of sport that has helped to lift the gloom
in recession-hit Britain.
As well as a "hit list" of more than 30 popular songs, the
closing ceremony will feature thousands of athletes and
performing volunteers as well as a section devoted to the next
summer Olympic hosts, Rio de Janeiro.
"I think it's a gift that we've got Rio next because their
eight minutes is so wonderful and really full of that samba
beat," Gavin said of the 2016 hosts.