American track star Noah Lyles missed the 4×100-meter relay due to COVID-19. While Team USA may have benefited from Lyles’ presence on the track for the relay event, a mishap ultimately ended the American men’s hopes of capturing gold in Paris Friday.
The U.S. men’s track and field team extended its medal drought in the men’s event to 20 years after a botched handoff in the first leg of the race led to a disqualification for the Americans.
The team of Christian Coleman, Kenneth Bednarek, Kyree King and Fred Kerley finished the race in seventh place but was later disqualified after it was found Coleman handed off the baton to two-time silver medalist Bednarek outside the exchange zone.
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Legendary track and field athlete and nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis has been in Paris to watch the 2024 Summer Games. He described Team USA’s performance on Friday as a “total embarrassment,” while also calling for some serious changes to U.S. track and field.
“It is time to blow up the system,” Lewis posted on X, formerly Twitter. “This continues to be completely unacceptable. It is clear that EVERYONE at [USA Track & Field] 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.”
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Canada claimed the gold medal after finishing the race in 37.50 seconds, while South Africa earned silver. Great Britain won the bronze.
All of Team USA, except for Bednarek, spoke to reporters after the race. Coleman attributed the error to the team being caught up in the heat of the moment.
“We practiced a lot,” Coleman said. “Me and Kenny have been competitors but also teammates a few times. We felt really confident going out there. In the heat of the moment, it just didn’t happen.”
After being pressed to pinpoint what exactly caused the mishap, Coleman said, “I’m not sure if you want me to point fingers or something like that. As a team, as a unit, we didn’t get it done today.”
Coleman’s teammate, Kerley, seemed to take issue with the line of questioning and eventually interjected, “Y’all say the same s— over and over.”
The 2024 Summer Games are not the first at which the U.S. men’s team has had baton passing issues.
At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Americans appeared to be on track to secure a spot in the 4×100 final until a mix-up led to the baton tumbling to the track as rain fell from the sky.
The Americans finished in second during the 2012 Games in London but were later stripped of the silver due to a doping case.
Although three Americans are among the top 11 100-meter sprinters in the world this year, the U.S. still could not manage to claim one of the three spots on the Olympic podium in Paris following the 4×100-meter relay.
However, the women provided a bright spot for the Americans as Sha’Carri Richardson anchored the 4×100-meter relay and helped lift Team USA to gold. The U.S. women have now earned 12 gold medals in the event.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
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