LONDON - In what proved to be the fastest relay race in history, former Tiger sprint star Richard "Torpedo" Thompson and his Trinidad & Tobago teammates took their place on the medal podium as this year's Olympic bronze medalists in the men's 4x100-meter relay on Saturday at the Olympic Stadium.

Thompson made history as the first LSU athlete to win three Olympics medals for a career as he anchored his country to the bronze medal with a run of 38.12 seconds in the final.

With Thompson anchoring a team that also featured Keston Bledman, Marc Burns and Emmanuel Callender, Trinidad & Tobago brought home a medal in the sprint relay for the second-straight Olympics as they also captured a silver medal in Beijing four years ago while running with the same four sprinters.

Jamaica became the first relay team in history to break 37 seconds as Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt smashed the world record with a gold-medal winning run of 36.84.

The Jamaicans defended their Olympic gold medal in the fastest relay race in history as the team from the United States also set a national record of 37.04 to capture the silver medal. Earning their place as the best American relay team of all-time were Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay and Ryan Bailey.

It appeared Trinidad & Tobago would finish just out of medal contention while settling for fourth place as Canada was the third team to cross the finish line, but the Canadians were disqualified when it was ruled that their third leg ran on the line while racing around the turn before handing off the baton to their anchor leg. That misstep elevated Trinidad & Tobago into the third position for the bronze medal.

Thompson became the third LSU Track & Field athlete to win a medal during this year's Olympic Games as he followed Jamaica's silver medalist Samantha Henry-Robinson in the women's 4x100-meter relay and Trinidad & Tobago's bronze medalist Ade Alleyne-Forte in the men's 4x400 relay.

Members of the LSU Track & Field program have now claimed 17 medals at the modern Olympic Games with six gold medals, six silver medals and five bronze medals all-time.

Thompson is the first LSU athlete among all sports to win three Olympic medals in a career as he claimed a pair of silver medals in the 100-meter dash and 4x100-meter relay in his Olympics debut in Beijing four years ago. Only two other LSU Track & Field athletes have captured at least two Olympic medals as 400-meter hurdler Glenn "Slats" Hardin won silver in 1932 and gold in 1936 and Derrick Brew earned gold in the 4x400-meter relay and bronze in the 400-meter dash in 2004.