U.S. women’s relay team advances after drop, protest

Published 5:45 pm Thursday, August 18, 2016

By Rick Maese

The Washington Post

RIO DE JANEIRO – A Brazilian bump and a dropped baton. A hopeful protest and a race on an empty track. It’s safe to say this was not how the U.S. women’s 4×100 relay team envisioned Thursday unfolding, but after a drama-filled day that included an unprecedented Olympic time trials race, the Americans advanced to Friday’s relay finals.

Racing against the clock with no other runners on the track, the relay team posted a time of 41.77 seconds Thursday night to back their way into the finals, hours after a dropped baton in their first-round heat threatened to doom their hopes of defending their Olympic title.

“It was different,” sprinter Allyson Felix said of running the relay on an empty track. “It was really weird.”

But they weren’t complaining about the result, not after the bizarre circumstances that led to the evening run. On Thursday morning, the four-woman team got off to a strong start in their first-round heat. But running in Lane 2, Felix was unable to pass the baton to her teammate English Gardner, and the United States’ hopes at returning to the podium appeared to be dashed.

Immediately after the race, the Americans filed a protest, saying the Brazilian sprinter one lane over impeded Felix’s progress.

“I got bumped coming into the exchange zone,” Felix said. “It just completely threw me off balance.”

Gardner never had a chance, and the baton fell to the ground.

“If you think about it, we are going about 20 mph,” she said. “So if a foreign object comes in front and throws off your momentum, that’s going to mess up a hand-off.”

Felix wisely picked up the baton, and the Americans made sure to finish the race. The Brazilian team was disqualified for obstruction after the race, while officials with the International Association of Athletics Federations, the sport’s governing body, reviewed the United States’ protest. Rather than permit a free pass into the finals, they allowed the Americans a chance to run their way there.

The U.S. team had to return to the track 7 1/2 hours later to race against the clock, needing a time of at least 42.70 seconds to top China’s first-round time. The Chinese team was the last one into the final, finishing less than 0.01 of a second slower than Canada. After unsuccessfully protesting the IAAF’s decision, China had to sit idly while the Americans took aim at their spot in the final

“It’s unfortunate what happened. I wish that it didn’t happen this way,” Gardner said, “and that we were able to all compete because we all worked so hard to get here.”

The U.S. runners spent the afternoon resting before taking the track for a second time. Gardner said it felt like a “glorified practice” at Olympic Stadium, and the Americans had no problems moving the baton around the track.

“Before we came out, our coach said it was just like a practice,” Gardner said, “just the whole world was watching.”

Even though the Americans posted the fastest time of any team in the first round, they will race out of one of the outside lanes Friday because their mark came in a time trials run. They at least will benefit from the likely addition of sprinter Tori Bowie, who won silver in the 100-meter race here but did not run in either of Thursday’s races after winning bronze in the 200 meters Wednesday night.

The men’s 4×100 relay team reached the finish line Thursday with far less drama. The Americans posted the best time of the two first-round heats, finishing in 37.65 seconds. Despite Thursday’s fast time, the Americans know there will be a looming threat in Friday’s finals who wasn’t on the track for the first round. Usain Bolt will join his Jamaican teammates, trying to lead the group to a third straight Olympic gold medal in the relay race.

“Today we were very, very patient in the first round with safe passes,” U.S. sprinter Mike Rodgers said. “Tomorrow we are going to stretch it out a little bit; hopefully you guys will see something special… . So no mistakes, a good race or tight at the line or put enough room on Bolt so he can’t catch us like we did in the world relays.”