Carl Lewis Responds to US Men's 4x100m failure to reach final
In the Tokyo 2020, the Men’s 100-meter relay failed to qualify for the finals. The team were heavy favorites to win the event with an all-star team of sprinters consisting of Travyon Bromell, Fred Kerley, Ronnie Baker, and Craven Gillespe.
In the semifinal heats of the 4X100m relay, the United States started the race off strong, leading for the first 200 meters. However, after a questionable hand off the other teams quickly gained momentum. Resulting in the United States squad finishing sixth in their heat with a time of 38.10 seconds. This is a massive upset considering the team contains some of the fastest men this year. Kerley was the second-place finisher in the 100 m sprint. Baker came fifth in the men’s final. Bromell, did not qualify for the 100-meter final, however, he posts a time that makes him currently the world’s fastest man actively competing.
The botched handoff occurred between Fred Kerley and Ronnie Baker. Coaches emphasize that in a relay, it is critical that the baton maintain speed throughout all legs of the race. At the 3rd leg, the baton came to a near standstill, causing them to be outrun.
View the race via NBC Sports here.
China won this heat in 37.92s, with Canada second and Italy third in (37.95s), automatically qualifying for the final. Germany (38.06s) placed fourth and Ghana (38.08) fifth as they also finished ahead of the US in their heat. Ghana edged out the United States on time to continue to the finals.
American sprint legend, Carl Lewis, gave his opinion on the men’s relay performance in a social media post.
"The USA team did everything wrong in the men's relay," said Lewis.
"The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership.”
In his tweet, Lewis also stated that the athletes’ performance was “worse than AAU teams.” AAU is an amateur athletics league in the United Stated for U18 track athletes.
Lewis’s criticism comes in the face of more than a decade of lackluster performance in the 100-meter relay by the men’s team. Tokyo marks the 4th consecutive Olympics that the United States has failed to medal in the men’s 4 x 100. The men's team has not medaled in the 100-meter relay since 2004 in Athens. They last won gold in the 2000 Games in Sydney.
Year after year, the team has fell short of a medal due to a lack of team dynamics. At Rio, the USA was disqualified. They exchanged outside the designated zone in the first baton change. In 2012, a member was identified as doping and medals were accordingly removed from the team. In 2008, team USA dropped the baton.
The finals of the 4x100m will start on Friday, Aug 6 at 9:30 AM. See the track and field Olympic schedule for full details.
