The Americans entered Saturday having won gold in 16 of 22 previous Olympics (including 1980, which the USA boycotted). Courtney Okolo ran the first leg, followed by Natasha Hastings and Phyllis Francis. Jamaica earned silver with a time of 2:58.16, and Bahamas won bronze with a time of in 2:58.49.
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McCorory also won Olympic gold in the 4×400 in London in 2012. Felix, who 24 hours earlier had helped the United States of America win 4x100m relay gold, has now won more track gold medals than any other woman athlete in history. A review ensued, Chelimo was reinstated to silver and Lagat dropped to fifth – a bummer for the elder statesman of the US track team, but some sort of sign for the team: Even when it lost, it won. “I thought, ‘I have been running a lot but I’m going to give this anchor leg all I got.’ Every man did their job, and we are bringing this gold back to the U.S”.
Arman Hall, Tony McQuay, Gil Roberts and Merritt returned the Olympic title to American hands.
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Four years after the Bahamas beat the USA team, the Americans finished with a time of 2 minutes 57.30 seconds. He was caught in the tail wind of South African Wayde van Nierkerk’s world-record 400 run earlier in the week and settled for bronze.
