They needed a do-over to reach Friday’s final of the women’s 4×100-meter relay, but the US made it count with a gold-medal finish in Rio.
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As seven-time Olympic medalist Allyson Felix relay prepared for the second exchange, she dragged her foot on the polyurethane turf, forcing her to stumble toward English Gardner and, in a surreal scene, toss the baton to her teammate. Clement has been decorated enough, with two world championship gold medals, but the Olympic title had eluded him. In one burst Wednesday night, dubbed the “awesome hour” by victorious long jumper Tianna Bartoletta, the USA team added six medals in around 60 minutes. Bartoletta will go straight from the rerun to her medals ceremony. The 4×100-meter gold medal is the fifth in her career, which is the most ever by a female track and field athlete.
Even on exhausted legs, 42.70 should be no problem for the USA relay runners, especially with nobody jostling them from the side. Jamaica and Great Britain are already among the medal favorites.
That’s what the US women’s 4×100-meter team did in Rio’s Olympic Stadium. Both men’s and women’s USA relay teams have been plagued with issues with passing the baton in the last several Olympics, according to ESPN.
In the US team’s semifinal heat Thursday morning, Felix was bumped by a Brazilian runner before passing the baton to Gardner.
Officials agreed that Felix had been impeded prior to the handoff and granted the US a re-run – alone under the bright lights at Olympic stadium last night.
The exchanges were smooth, and a few moments after Akinosun crossed the line in a time that not only beat China’s, but was the best that any team had run all day, the four runners huddled for a quick hug.
“Unfortunately you know running at that speed and getting hit by something is just a freak accident, and I really wish it didn’t happen the way that it did, but unfortunately it did”. They sailed through in the final despite the disadvantage of racing in the tightest lane, number one. “We had fun out there”.
“I knew that exactly what we did in the first round was right, we executed, its just that we had a mishap”. If she had her way, all the qualifying teams would compete in the finals and get their chance to shine.
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All the Nigeria’s women 4x100m quartet have to do is push harder and they might just clinch a medal for the country in track and field.
