Athens: Yulia Nesterenko of Belarus today (Aug 22, 2004) won the women's 100 meters Olympic title to become the first non-American since 1980 to do so.

The 25-year-old timed 10.93 seconds to edge out America's Lauryn Williams, who ran a personal best of 10.96sec, while Veronica Campbell of Jamaica was third in 10.97sec.

Nesterenko had been the form runner coming into the final and she held her nerve to come back at Williams who had a substantial lead at halfway while Campbell and Bulgarian youngster Ivet Lalova were also in contention.

However Nesterenko broke the line just in front of 20-year-old Williams to take the crown that was worn by Marion Jones in 2000 but who failed to qualify for the event.