Jamaica took silver in 3:20.34 with Britain claiming bronze in 3:25.88. Over the second and third laps, Americans Natasha Hastings and Phyllis Francis held big leads, only to watch them dwindle dramatically as they legged out their final meters.
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LaShawn Merritt ran a blistering anchor leg to return the men’s 4x400m title to the United States, and win his third Olympic gold medal, in the final track and field event of the Rio Games on Saturday.
Felix crossed the finish line in 3 minutes, 19.06 seconds.
Felix set off calmly on her anchor leg pursued by Novlene Williams-Mills, the 34-year-old veteran who underwent a double mastectomy following the 2012 Olympics after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Her nine medals overall tie her with Jamaica’s Merlene Ottey for the most among all women in track and field.
“Track and field is such a big part of my life”.
Felix’s six gold medals in women’s track is an Olympic record. Jamaica won silver and the Bahamas, who won in 2012, took bronze.
Centrowitz was considered a contender in the 1,500 – and in this case, contending meant winning a race in a leisurely pace of 3 minutes, 50 seconds for a.11 margin over Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria.
LaShawn Merritt anchored the U.S. to victory in the men’s 4×400-meter relay on Saturday at Olympic Stadium, four years after Bahamas came from behind to knock the Americans down to silver. It is the longest-standing athletics world record.
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An International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rule limiting the amount of naturally occurring functional testosterone for female athletes appeared to have limited Semenya’s prospects but the rule was quashed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport a year ago. Americans Bernard Lagat and Paul Chelimo will also compete.
