As the US women’s 4×100-meter relay prepared for its second exchange, seven-time Olympic medalist Allyson Felix foot dragged on the polyurethane turf, forcing her to stumble toward English Gardner and, in a surreal scene, toss the baton to her teammate. After the race, Felix told reporters in the mixed zone that the the Brazilian sprinter in the lane next to the US may have stepped out of her lane causing contact, and shortly after, USA Track and Field filed an appeal.
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With the baton laying on the ground and Gardner near tears, it was Felix who realized Team USA couldn’t lodge a protest if they didn’t finish the heat. After the race, the US filed a protest.
The exchanges were smooth, and a few moments after Akinosun crossed the line in a time that not only beat China’s, but was the best that any team had run all day, the four runners huddled for a quick hug. Tonight, the American women will again run in lane 2. Beating that time would also lead to a second time trial between the teams for China and Canada, which both qualified for the final with times of 42.70, the International Association of Athletics Federations said in a statement. It is a circumstance that has never happened before in the Olympics.
“I think I got propelled at about 20 miles an hour”, Felix told reporters. “I tried to hold it together to get it to English”.
Jamaica (41.79), Great Britain (41.93), Germany (42.18) and China (42.70) were the top teams in the race. Initially, Brazil, Kazakhstan and the United States were all disqualified.
Felix’s decision to have Gardner pick up the baton and finish the race proved to be a smart one as the US’s protest was successful as shown by the following tweets. “We are genuinely friends”, Rollins said. Two of the runners in the heat, Felix and Tianna Bartoletta, were part of the team that set the world record (40.82 seconds) at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Team USA made it through after a solo run on the track.
The Chinese launched an angry appeal before the re-run went ahead, describing the decision to let the United States run again as “unfair” after claiming it was the U.S. athletes’ own error that led to them dropping the baton.
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“She is exhausted but ready”, said Bartoletta’s husband, John.
