This has been an adjust-on-the-fly year for Felix – her failure to make the team for the 200 meters, her jaw-dropping silver-medal moment when a diving Jamaican beat her in the 400, and more.
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Bolt led Jamaica to victory in the 400-meter men’s relay Friday night, winning a third gold medal for the third consecutive Olympics.
Cheruiyot broke away with two laps to go, ending any hopes the 10,000-meter gold medal victor, Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia, had of winning both distance track events.
After the race, the Jamaican team circled the field, danced the samba and basked in the adoration of the crowd.
In a week that has seen the world obsess about Usain Bolt’s medal tally, Felix quietly took her overall Olympic haul to nine – six golds and three silvers.
The U.S. finished in third place but was disqualified because on its first exchange between Mike Rodgers and Justin Gatlin, the sprinters were judged to have passed the baton outside the exchange zone.
As ever, when it came to a last-lap showdown, nobody could live with his speed and he surged clear of Kenyan-born American Paul Chelimo and Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet. “It was a nightmare”.
According to USA Track and Field, Felix didn’t even start running until her freshman year of high school, and teammates called her “chicken legs” because of her long gams. “All that hard work just crumbles”.
Later, two-time former world champion Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya rained on Ethiopian Almaz Ayana’s bid for an Olympic distance double, kicking with two laps to run to seal gold in the women’s 5000m. Felix crossed the finish line in 3 minutes, 19.06 seconds.
But unlike some races, in which an additional runner could simply be added to the final, relays are limited to eight teams because there are only eight lanes that wrap completely around the track.
Earlier Friday, Ekaterini Stefanidi of Greece won gold in the women’s pole vault after recording a height of 4.85m. Keep reading for more on how Allyson earned her record-breaking sixth gold.
“It’s fun to be able to share that story, that insane story, with these other ladies”, said Tianna Bartoletta, who added that gold with the one she took in the long jump. “Seeing all these US athletes medaling”, she said, “was really, really inspiring for me”. But sometimes adversity makes you stronger. “We’ve each had a rocky road to get here, and we came together to win the gold”.
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.
Her five medals matches marks set by Nastia Liukin in 2008, Shannon Miller in 1992 and Mary Lou Retton in 1984.
Jackie Galloway won a bronze medal for her victory against France’s Gwladys Epangue in a women’s taekwondo 67 kg plus contest.
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RIO DE JANEIRO All by themselves on the massive track, the four USA women took their positions in Lane 2.
