Only the gold-medal winning United States team at the 2012 London Games has gone faster.
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Allyson Felix became the first woman athlete with five gold medals as she powered the U.S. sprint relay team to victory just a day after they had been brought back from the Olympic dead.
The US finished in 3 minutes 19.06 seconds.
Likewise, Gardner passed it off cleanly to Allyson Felix on the second exchange. The Bahamas followed up its London gold with a bronze, beating Belgium by.03 and holding off fading Botswana.
Arman Hall, Tony McQuay, and Gil Roberts set up Merritt for the win.
“It’s unbelievable”, Gardner said of winning her first Olympic gold medal. Great Britain earned bronze in 3:25.88.
Okolo got things going with a 50.3-second opening leg to put the USA into the lead and Hastings followed with a 49.20-second lap.
Kenyan Hellen Onsando Obiri clocked a personal best of 14:29.77 to take silver behind Cheruiyot, who is a four-time world champion in the 5,000 and 10,000. The team from America, anchored by Allyson Felix, won big in a great race on August 20.
The Americans have never gone more than two Games without winning the men’s one-lap relay and after being upset by the Bahamas in London four years ago, were determined to secure the title for a record 17th time.
“I can look back at the things I’ve accomplished and be really proud and really be grateful for what track and field has brought to my life”, she said.
Farah dealt with everything the field could throw at him on Saturday, and even took up the pace midway through the race to stamp his authority on the field.
Bartoletta, whose two world long jump titles remarkably came 10 years apart, with a stint on the United States bobsleigh team sandwiched in between, was delighted with her double gold. Algeria’s Taofik Makhloufi placed second in the run, while New Zealand’s Nicholas Willis finished in third place in the event.
After looking at the evidence, the meet’s video referees disqualified Brazil for obstruction and gave Team USA another chance to qualify in a solo rerun on Thursday night.
The 41-year-old Lagat became the oldest person in a running event to win a medal at the Olympics.
In the women’s 4x400m, Jamaica and the United States won their heats with Great Britain comfortably qualifying behind Jamaica.
“It is hard to imagine”, Lagat said.
“I can’t believe what’s happened”. We had to come together as a team today, we had to stick in, stay focused and keep each other’s spirits up. That led to the re-run, and the Americans qualified fastest, taking the place of China in the final.
“We’re not here to talk about IAAF, we’re not here to talk about some speculations”, Semenya said.
Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia ended up with bronze after leading early. Felix joined swimmers Jenny Thompson and Amy Van Dyken as the only USA women with at least six gold medals. She now has six gold medals, improving her all-time record for women in Olympic track and field.
– US wrestler J’den Cox took the bronze in the 86 kilogram division.
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Semenya has become the unwilling face of the controversial debate in track and field over women with very high levels of testosterone being allowed to compete. But the efforts of the Olympic week appeared to catch up with her as she slumped late in the Saturday night race. Under a legal challenge, the IAAF was forced to drop the testosterone-limiting rules previous year.
