That didn’t work, and though another full-on American nightmare in the Olympic relays was forestalled, the 4×100 certainly has turned surreal.
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The United States’ Tori Bowie crossed the finish line 0.35 seconds ahead of Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce to secure gold in the women’s 4×100-meter relay on Friday.
Even on exhausted legs, 42.70 should be no problem for the US relay runners, especially with nobody jostling them from the side. A solo re-run took place in which the United States ran 41.77 for the second-fastest time of 2016 and advanced to the final. Unfortunately, Gardner was unable to catch the baton and it fell to the ground – which is an immediate disqualification.
English Gardner and Allyson Felix, right, drop the baton in their heat.
“It was different”, she said of the bump and fumble.
The stick fell, and after being disqualified, the Americans lodged a successful protest. “I’ve never been involved in anything like that”, Felix said, adding she had no qualms about the decision which ultimately led to China’s relay squad being knocked out of the final.
All by themselves on the massive track, the four USA women took their positions in Lane 2. It sounded and away she went – alone – in a first-of-its-kind Olympic relay race against the clock.
Slow motion TV replays clearly showed Brazilian Franciela Krasucki bumping Felix just before she attempted to hand over the baton to Gardner. “We just had to go out there and trust each other”.
A despairing Felix threw the baton in the general direction of Gardner as they approached the end of the handover zone but it missed its target and tumbled to the track.
“We’ll just get out there and perform”, she said.
But the USA women’s 4×100 team was not taking any chances and finished the re-run at 41.77, which was the fastest among all the teams that participated in the relay.
Kerron Clement picked up Thursday where the United States left off the evening before at the Olympic Stadium – with more gold.
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“First thing I did is told the young guys, ‘We got this, ‘” veteran Tyson Gay said after running the men’s third leg.
