The U.S. women’s 4×100 team’s push for a third consecutive Olympic gold was denied by Jamaica.
Jamaica won in a national record of 41.02 seconds, adding the relay title to its Tokyo Olympic collection after sweeping the podium in the 100-meter final. It was the second-fastest time in history.
The American team of Javianne Oliver, Teahna Daniels, Jenna Prandini and Gabrielle Thomas won silver in 41.45 seconds. Britain took bronze in 41.88 seconds.
“We were really excited to come out here and work hard together and come up with a medal,” said Thomas, who also won bronze in the 200 meters. “We knew it was going to come. You know we manifested it, we plan for it and we’re just really excited to do this for Team USA.”
The women’s relay team fared better than the men’s relay team. Italy won the men’s 4×100-meter race in 37.50 seconds, narrowly beating Britain (37.51) for silver. Canada won bronze with 37.70 seconds. Italy’s win gave Lamont Jacobs his second gold medal at the games and it was Italy’s first Olympic medal in the relay since a bronze at the 1948 London Olympics.
The U.S. men’s relay team missed the 4×100 relay race finals after a bad baton exchanged doomed them to a sixth-place finish. Bad handoffs have long plagued the men’s relay team. It was the fourth straight Olympics that the U.S. men failed to win medals in the event they once owned.
Former U.S. track and field legend Carl Lewis criticized the men’s failure to win.
“The USA team did everything wrong in the men’s relay,” Lewis wrote on Twitter. “The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership. It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw.”
