Felix, who 24 hours earlier had helped the U.S. win 4x100m relay gold, has now won more track gold medals than any other woman athlete in history.
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Allyson Felix anchored the US women to gold in the 4×400-meter relay final Saturday, giving the Americans the gold in the event for the sixth straight Olympic Games.
Those prizes were both golds from the 4×400 relays, and the United States exited the final night of action at Olympic Stadium with 31 medals the most it has taken in a non-boycotted Olympics since 1956, when the world and track were both very different places.
The U.S. team of (University of Tennessee All-American) Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner and Tori Bowie posted the second-fastest time in history. The U.S. team of Courtney Okolo, Natasha Hastings, Phyllis Francis and Felix?led the entire race and finished in 3:19.06.
Felix had been bumped in the preliminary heats and lost the baton, but the US team protested and got a second chance – a solo re-run that allowed them to qualify on times.
Felix got the baton with a slight lead on Jamaica, but stretched it to about 15 meters in the final straight to finish in 3:20.04. The U.S. was given a chance to qualify in a Thursday night time trial. Russian Federation had finished second the previous three Olympics, but it was forbidden from competing in Rio due to past doping issues.
“It’s so special and great to share it with all these ladies”, Felix said following their win. But she had been impeded by a Brazilian runner, and they went through after successfully appealing and being allowed to race by themselves in a solo heat.
I would have been really happy with a silver, Centrowitz said.
Bartoletta, whose two world long jump titles remarkably came 10 years apart, with a stint on the U.S. bobsleigh team sandwiched in between, was delighted with her double gold.
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In the nights other finals, South African Caster Semenya won the 800 meters and Thomas Rohler of Germany won javelin in results that surprised nobody. Theyve done it at every games since 1992. “And coming away with gold is unbelievable”.
