Amidst all the highs that Team USA rode through during the Paris Olympics, especially in terms of track and field, one of the glaring disappointments came from the Men’s 4x100m relay team. Composed of Fred Kerley, Kenny Bednarek, Christian Coleman, and Kyree King, the team ended up with a disqualification towards the end.
The race that eventually saw Team Canada bag the gold was subject to an incoming flood of criticism from American fans surrounding their team. From complaints about the order to shocked reactions to the faulty pass between Coleman and Bednarek, platforms like X boomed with angry comments.
Now, in retrospect, one could witness a lot of mistakes that could’ve been avoided, and track veterans Justin Gatlin and Rodney Greene wanted to mull over the subject. In a short YouTube video, they spoke about what went wrong and how Team USA should’ve dealt with it.
Right off the bat, Greene agreed with a scathing statement by former track star Carl Lewis about how the whole Men’s relay system, particularly the 4x100m needed some serious modifications. The duo expressed their awe at other nations and their relay teams and pointed out how despite performing well during the heats, Team USA witnessed a flop show at the finals.
Gatlin believed the main reason for this was switching up the members and the order after the heats when there was no need to. Initially, the relay had Courtney Lindsey as one of the members whom Bednarek replaced later. That, combined with not placing the team properly, led to some significant misses.
“I can’t for the life of me understand why you just didn’t do a plug-and-play kind of move. Like you already got the job done in the prelims and you run 37.47 which would’ve won the finals with that quartet!”
Gatlin firmly believed that retaining Lindsey on the anchor leg or at least getting Bednarek in the same position would’ve delivered better results. Hence, apart from the weak baton passes that eventually got the team disqualified, he attributed the reason for their failure to the shuffling of players.
“The hand-offs were shaky through the prelims but the fact of, you have to build consistency, right? So they got it done the first time!…Why would you go out there and try a new quartet?”
Greene justified that the decision might have been a gamble on the part of the coach or strategist. However, Gatlin still felt that a decision like that during the finals was too risky and should’ve been avoided at all costs.
Recalling his days on track and being a part of the relay team himself, Gatlin remembered how he had to face Team Jamaica, including veterans like Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake, and Michael Frater – all of whom were contenders for Olympic and world records. Even if Team USA at the time made no mistakes, their rivals had set the bar high for pacing.
With this, it was tough to accept that faulty baton passes and goof-ups in strategy could cause a loss, let alone disqualification. However, one can keep their hopes up high for the next Olympic season, where the sprinters hopefully learn from their setbacks and move forward.
