10 August 2004	Tuesday	23 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

MUNICH, Aug 9: Triple Olympic champion Marion Jones led her team to victory in the 4x100 relay in 41.67 seconds as US athletes beat Germany and France in a team competition on Sunday, five days before the Athens Games begin.

Maurice Greene led the US to victory in the men's 4x100 relay in 37.92 seconds, with both the men's and women's teams setting the fastest 4x100 relay times in the world this year.

American long jumper Dwight Phillips, a favourite to win gold at the Games, won his event with a leap of 8.20 metres as the US scored 173 points, ahead of Germany on 119 points and France on 103 at the Team Challenge competition.

Rene Herms was the German discovery of the tournament, winning the 800 metres in 1:44.14, ahead of Khadevis Robinson of the US. Herms ran faster than the 1:44.20 personal best run by injured German Olympic champion Nils Schumann, but he remained cautious. "I'm not going to get too optimistic about Athens, because everything came together perfectly here," said Herms. -Reuters