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American observe star Noah Lyles missed the 4×100-meter relay on account of COVID-19. While Team USA could have benefited from Lyles’ presence on the observe for the relay occasion, a mishap in the end ended the American males’s hopes of capturing gold in Paris Friday.
The U.S. males’s observe and discipline workforce prolonged its medal drought within the males’s occasion to twenty years after a botched handoff within the first leg of the race led to a disqualification for the Americans.
The workforce of Christian Coleman, Kenneth Bednarek, Kyree King and Fred Kerley completed the race in seventh place however was later disqualified after it was discovered Coleman handed off the baton to two-time silver medalist Bednarek exterior the alternate zone.
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Carl Lewis, a former American observe and discipline athlete, throughout a tour of the Stade de France on day six of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 Aug. 1, 2024, in Paris. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
Legendary observe and discipline athlete and nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis has been in Paris to look at the 2024 Summer Games. He described Team USA’s efficiency on Friday as a “total embarrassment,” whereas additionally calling for some severe adjustments to U.S. observe and discipline.
“It is time to blow up the system,” Lewis posted on X, previously 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 ending the race in 37.50 seconds, whereas South Africa earned silver. Great Britain gained the bronze.
All of Team USA, aside from Bednarek, spoke to reporters after the race. Coleman attributed the error to the workforce being caught up within the warmth of the second.
Christian Coleman, proper, of the United States, struggles handy the baton to teammate Kenneth Bednarek within the males’s 4×100-meter relay remaining on the 2024 Summer Olympics Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
“We practiced a lot,” Coleman stated. “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 precisely prompted the mishap, Coleman stated, “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, appeared to take problem with the road of questioning and ultimately interjected, “Y’all say the same s— over and over.”
The 2024 Summer Games are usually not the primary at which the U.S. males’s workforce has had baton passing points.
At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Americans seemed to be on observe to safe a spot within the 4×100 remaining till a mix-up led to the baton tumbling to the observe as rain fell from the sky.
Christian Coleman, left, of the United States, struggles handy the baton to teammate Kenneth Bednarek, within the males’s 4×100-meter relay remaining on the 2024 Summer Olympics Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
The Americans completed in second in the course of the 2012 Games in London however had been later stripped of the silver on account of a doping case.
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Although three Americans are among the many high 11 100-meter sprinters on the earth this yr, the U.S. nonetheless couldn’t handle to say one of many three spots on the Olympic podium in Paris following the 4×100-meter relay.
However, the ladies offered a shiny spot for the Americans as Sha’Carri Richardson anchored the 4×100-meter relay and helped raise Team USA to gold. The U.S. ladies have now earned 12 gold medals within the occasion.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
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