The team finished the race with a time of 1 minute 6.71 seconds ― too slow to advance to the final.
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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.
But after a pedestrian race that was won in a time 24 seconds outside world record pace, Centrowitz held off defending champion Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria to cross the line in 3:50:00.
The team of Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner and Tori Bowie finished in 41.02, followed by Jamaica and Great Britain.
“We knew a medal was up for grabs but we had to go out and deliver”, she said, after a superb run from Emily Diamond put Ohuruogu in position to seize third with the fastest of the four legs. “We came out with a ‘W.’ It was that simple”.
Felix’s six golds is second among US women behind only swimmer Jenny Thompson’s eight gold medals. But replays showed that a Brazilian runner bumped Felix as she entered the exchange zone.
The baton wound up on the track.
The U.S. team has been on such a run, that Bowie takes it in stride.
Four years after the Bahamas beat the USA team, the Americans finished with a time of 2 minutes, 57.30 seconds.
That meant Lane 1, on the inside of the track, commonly considered a disadvantage.
And a job is a job.
The worst part (as if it could get any worse) was that the USA team has flubbed handing off the baton event many times before.
Everything was clean this time.
– The men’s 4×400 team, led by LaShawn Merritt, is a virtual lock for a medal, assuming no baton drops. “I know how competitive Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is”. I was determined to not let her catch me.
“Today it wasn’t really about me, it was a real team effort”.
Allyson Felix anchored the team of Courtney Okolo, Natasha Hastings and Phyllis Francis to the gold-medal six-peat in 3:19.06.
Disqualified, the US filed a protest, claiming interference by Brazil.
Favored Jamaica, with Usain Bolt anchoring, won in 37.27.
Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot smashed the Olympic 5,000-meter record earlier Thursday night. “You earned a gold medal in them”. Ayana settled for bronze.
Shelby Houlihan of the Portland-based Bowerman Track Club, came in 11th in 15:08.89.
Rhian Wilkinson and Canada defeated host nation Brazil, 2-1, to win Friday’s Bronze medal game. “I am so blessed”, she said afterwards.
The objective was to beat China’s time of 42.70 seconds, an achievable feat for a team whose members included two of the world record-setting runners in the event at the London Olympics, Bartoletta and Felix.
But the night wasn’t all bad for Team USA.
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“We’re not here to talk about IAAF, we’re not here to talk about some speculations”, Semenya said. “I’ll leave you guys with a little suspense there”.
