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SAINT-DENIS, France — Noah Lyles’ absence wasn’t the reason the U.S. missed out on gold in the men’s 4×100-meter relay.
It’s the Americans’ frustrating inability to find four men who can pass the baton to each other and run as fast as possible at the same time.
Christian Coleman, Kenny Bednarek, Kyree King and Fred Kerley finished a distant seventh on Friday night and were ultimately disqualified, extending the U.S.’s 20-year medal drought in the men’s 4×100-meter relay. Canada won a surprise gold in 37.50 seconds. South Africa took silver and Great Britain took bronze.
The race went awry for the US with a botched baton pass between the first and second legs of the relay. As Coleman rounded the bend with the baton, Bednarek took off far too early and then came to a stop in an attempt to avoid disqualification.
It was no use. By the time Coleman passed the baton to Bednarek as he crashed into his back, they were already out of the transition zone.
The best teamwork the U.S. relay team showed came when they spoke to reporters after the race. They all spoke alongside Bednarek in an attempt to shield him from blame.
“We’ve practiced a lot,” Coleman said. “Kenny and I have been competitors, but we’ve also been teammates a few times. We felt very confident going out on the field. In the heat of the moment, it just didn’t happen.”
When repeatedly asked to specify exactly what went wrong, Coleman said, “I’m not sure if you want me to point fingers or anything. As a team, as a unit, we didn’t do it today.”
Kerley, too, was irritated by the interrogations. He interrupted them with the words: “You’re all saying the same nonsense.”
It was no surprise that the US had trouble passing the baton again. The names change every four years, but the story rarely does.
During the 2008 Olympics, the US was advancing to a spot in the 4×100-meter final when Darvis Patton went off to attack Tyson Gay on the final changeover and made a mistake, causing the baton to drop on the rain-soaked track.
Four years later, the US finished second to Jamaica, but was stripped of its silver medals because of Gay’s doping case.
In 2016, the US joined victorious Jamaica and second-place Japan on a lap of honour, only to find it had been disqualified after a botched baton pass between Mike Rodgers and Justin Gatlin occurred outside the designated area.
Worst of all was Tokyo. The favored Americans finished sixth in their preliminary heat and failed to qualify for the final, largely because Kerley and Ronnie Baker botched the baton pass between the second and third legs of the relay.
After that failure, legendary Carl Lewis called it a “total disgrace.” On Friday, he went even further.
“It’s time to blow the system up,” Lewis posted on X. “This remains completely unacceptable. It’s clear that EVERYONE at [USA Track & Field] is more focused on relationships than winning. No athlete should step out on the track and run another relay until this program is changed from top to bottom.”
The last time the US failed to reach the podium at the Olympics was despite the fact that the US has three of the 11 fastest 100-meter sprinters in the world this year.
Lyles had hoped that this would be the night he would win his third gold medal in Paris and join Usain Bolt, Carl Lewis, Bobby Morrow and Jesse Owens as the only male sprinters to have accomplished a sprint triple in a single Olympic Games. He would likely have run the third leg of the 4×100 meters for the U.S. because of his ability to run the curve.
That plan fell apart when Lyles tested positive for COVID two days after winning the closest 100 meters in Olympic history. Lyles revealed he had COVID after settling for bronze in the 200 on Thursday night. Just hours later, he announced on Instagram that his Olympics were over.
“It’s not the Olympics I dreamed of,” Lyles wrote on Instagram, “but it has given me so much joy [sic] in my heart. I hope everyone enjoyed the show.”
The show went on without the showman.
And for the US, the ending was all too familiar.
