BARCELONA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- There was drama in the men's 4x100 meters medley relay in Barcelona when France was crowned as the new world champions following a false start by the US team.

Although the American quartet of Matt Grevers, Kevin Cordes, Ryan Lochte and Nathan Adrian finished comfortably ahead of the French and Australian teams, who had looked destined for silver and bronze, the Americans were disqualified as Cordes was judged to have dived in before Grevers had touched the board.

The disqualification was especially hard on Lochte who had swum a magnificent third leg in the butterfly to put the Americans into a decisive lead and it denied him what would have been a 16th World Championship gold.

As it is the French quarter of Camille Lacourt, who had won the 50 meters backstroke earlier in the night, Giacomo Perez-Dortona, Jeremy Stravius and Fabian Gilot can look back on a hugely successful world championships in which they have won three gold medals as a team.