ATHENS, Aug 22: Yuliya Nesterenko of Belarus sped to an unexpected victory in the women's 100 metres final at the Athens Olympics on Saturday.

The high-striding Belarussian, the first woman from the former Soviet state to win an Olympic sprint gold, clocked 10.93 seconds to edge Lauryn Williams of the United States into second place.

Nesterenko was also the first non-American to win the coveted title since the United States boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games. "I am very, very happy," she said. "For six months I have been working and training very hard so I knew I could win."

Williams, the leading American in the early rounds, clocked 10.96 seconds, one-hundredth of a second ahead of Jamaica's Veronica Campbell. The field had been weakened by the absence of defending champion Marion Jones, who failed to qualify for the sprint at the Games, as well as the first two women across the line in last year's Paris world championships, Kelli White and Torri Edwards, who are serving doping bans.

Twice Olympic champion Gail Devers, who took the last place on the American team when Edwards was banned, was eliminated in the semifinals along with France's former European champion Christine Arron.

Swede Carolina Kluft added the Olympic heptathlon gold medal to the world title she won in Paris last year by taking first place with 6,952 points. The 21-year-old Swede began the day with a 240-point lead, extended it further in the long jump and javelin and completed the 800 comfortably to win the title.

The women's discus title was won by Russia's 2001 world champion Natalya Sadova who denied the hosts their first athletics gold of the Games. Anastasia Kelesidou was poised to win the title for Greece after a throw of 66.68 metres but was relegated to the silver-medal position after Sadova replied with 67.02 with her penultimate throw.

RESULTS OF SATURDAY'S FINALS: