Canada took gold in the men’s Olympic 4x100m relay on Friday in a race where the American squad messed up on an exchange and later disqualified.
Andre De Grasse’s commanding anchor in the rain at Stade de France powered the Canadians to the title in 37.50 and ending a gold drought that dates back to 1996.
South Africa won silver in 37.57, with Great Britain winning bronze in 37.61.
“To be out with these guys, my brothers, I’ve been with them since the beginning of time so it’s amazing,” De Grasse said. “We talked about this moment for years. It feels good to bring it to fruition. I’m super grateful.”
De Grasse pulled off the victory with the help of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney and were not the favorites to take gold in the event.
But the talk of the race was yet another failure of the American men to solve persistent relay woes. Team USA initially appeared to finish in a disappointing seventh place, but later disqualified for a baton pass out of the zone.
Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek botched the first baton exchange and the team — that included Kyree King and Fred Kerley — simply could not make up the gap that Canada and Great Britain quickly opened.
Track and field legend Carl Lewis appeared visibly upset during television broadcasts and scolded American track and field officials for another relay failure.
“It is time to blow up the system. This continues to be completely unacceptable,” Lewis posted on social media. “It is clear that EVERYONE at @usatf is more concerned with relationships than winning. No athlete should step on the track and run another relay until this program is changed from top to bottom.”
Lewis won a pair of Olympic golds in the 4×100 relay and more than qualified to asses the current state of American track and field.
Coleman later expressed his disappointment to reporters, with words that offered little insight into some of the issues that have plagued American men’s relay teams.
“We’re all human beings too and we’ve been through ups and downs in life,” he said. This is another of those times.”
“This is a part of the sport,” he added.
The U.S. was without Noah Lyles for the race, after he announced he was no longer competing in Paris after testing positive for Covid. Lyles struck gold in the 100m final but was hobbled in the 200m final and settled for bronze. He was later carted from the track and made the revelations about his health.
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