The U.S. team has been on such a run, that Bowie takes it in stride.
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The win for long jump gold medal victor Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner and Tori Bowie in a time of 41.01 seconds was the US’s second consecutive success in the event – a feat all the more impressive given it was occupying the unfavored lane 1 on Friday.
Their time of 41.01 seconds outdistanced rival Jamaica, which claimed its second consecutive silver medal with 41.36.
New Zealand’s Eliza McCartney, 19, cleared 4.80m to tie her national record and take bronze. The victory by the USA marked the first time that a 4×100 team won out of lane 1 at the Olympic Games since the US men did it in 1972. The U.S. women brought it home in 41.02 seconds, and lead-off runner Tianna Bartoletta was already waiting for Bowie for a wild embrace and to celebrate the second-fastest time in history behind the world record that Felix and Co. set to winning gold at London in 2012. Bartoletta and Felix ran on that team as well.
Felix’s team ran alone in surreal circumstances at the Olympic Stadium after officials ruled they deserved a second chance, having missed the final after being obstructed on a baton change by Brazil’s team.
The relay win served as redemption for the four American women.
A collision in the qualifying race dwindled any hope of Olympic gold but after the United States filed an appeal, they ran on an empty track to make it to the final race. Although she won an Olympic gold medal in the long jump in Rio, she also wanted one on the track.
In the final, Felix’s hand-off to English Gardner was hiccup-free.
“It’s been a wonderful experience, my first Olympic Games. The adversity yesterday made us even more determined and we kept fighting the whole way through”, said Felix after the triumph late Friday in the Rio Olympic stadium.
It was the third medal for Bowie at the 2016 Olympics.
Jamaica’s second place meant 100-meter and 200-meter victor Elaine Thompson added to her Rio medal collection, although not with the gold she desired.
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Bartoletta, whose two world long jump titles remarkably came 10 years apart, with a stint on the United States bobsled team sandwiched in between, was delighted with her double gold.
