Ghana pulled off a feat as they broke Nigeria's 34-year stranglehold on the women's 4X100m relay race to win a precious gold on Friday.

The Ghanaians finished first with a slim advantage of 0.01 second, a hair's breadth that could only be detected by slow-motion footage.

Nigeria finished second in 43.85 seconds. The bronze went to Cote d'Ivoire which clocked 44.48 seconds.

However, in other short-distance running events, Nigeria's domination was easily discernible as they came out triumphant in the women's 100m hurdles and men's 4X100m relay.

In the women's 100m hurdles, Toyin Augustus sprinted past her young teammate Jessica Ohanaja before finishing in 13.23 seconds. Ohanaja had to settle for the silver.

Nigeria won the men's 4X100m relay by a big margin, South Africa, who have yet to win a gold in athletics at the games, and Zimbabwe finished second and third respectively.

In the women's 3,000m steeplechase, which was for the first time introduced into the games, bare-footed Kenyan Ruth Bosibori won the gold medal by clocking nine minutes and 31.99 seconds. Both the silver and bronze medals went to Ethiopia.
In the field events, South African javelin thrower Justine Robbeson took the gold with a throw of 58.09 meters in his fourth attempt. She gave up the last two attempts as her mark was well beyond others' reach.
According to the disputable official website, Egypt leapfrogged from the third place in the medals table to the top with 60 golds. Algeria lie at the second place with 57 golds. They were followed by South Africa who have amassed 52 golds.