For Sha’Carri Richardson it was a beautiful relay race through the rain.
It’s just a pity that she couldn’t stay out there to help the men’s team win too.
Richardson won her first Olympic gold medal for the United States in the 4×100 meters on Friday, coming from behind to finish as the final runner down the home stretch, before watching the U.S. men extend their medalless streak at the Games to 20 years.
This year’s mishap happened quickly, right at the first exchange, when Christian Coleman collided with Kenny Bednarek and then actually passed him as they awkwardly passed the baton. The USA was disqualified for an illegal overtaking.
It was a similar result for a team that had competed without 100m winner Noah Lyles, who withdrew from the Olympics because of COVID. Even without Lyles, the Americans’ speed had made the race a losing one for them.
They always find a way.
“It just didn’t happen,” Coleman said. “Maybe we could have put in more work. I just think at that moment, it didn’t happen.”
Andre De Grasse made a bright statement at an otherwise disappointing Olympic Games by leading Canada to gold with a time of 37.50 seconds. It was De Grasse’s first medal in Paris, but his seventh overall. South Africa finished second and Great Britain third.
Richardson and her teammates’ run was everything the men’s race was not: It featured smooth, confident handoffs of a rain-soaked baton and was then capped by the fastest 100-meter runner in America.
The 100-meter silver medalist received the baton from Thomas in third place. Halfway through the race, Richardson had overtaken the runners from Great Britain and Germany. She looked to her right – and behind her – and gave a look that said, “You’re not catching me,” then took eight more steps. On the ninth, Richardson slammed her left foot on the ground as she crossed the finish line and let out a scream.
The Americans won in 41.78 seconds, giving them a lead of 0.07 seconds over Great Britain, which had to contend with two baton changes in the rain.
“I would describe the moment when we realized we had won as the U.S. women. It was a phenomenal feeling for all of us,” Richardson said.
Gabby Thomas ran the third leg to take her second gold of the Games, this time in addition to the 200-meter title. Twanisha Terry and 100-meter bronze medalist Melissa Jefferson completed the team. The exchange between Terry and Thomas, which almost ruined the Americans in qualifying, was better this time.
It was a nice end to the Olympic Games for Richardson, who had entered the Olympic Games as the favorite but surprisingly lost to Julien Alfred from St. Lucia.
For the men, it was just another misstep that is sure to raise four more years of questions about a program that can’t get its act together.
Some might blame the late lineup change. Lyles, who played goalkeeper in the USA’s victory at the World Cup last year, would likely have done so again at the Stade de France.
But that task fell to Kerley, and Bednarek finished second, allowing him to receive the pass from Coleman. A day earlier in qualifying, Coleman handed Kerley off with his right hand while grabbing Kerley’s arm with his left – an awkward exchange that cost nothing.
This one did it.
“At the end of the day, we knew what we could do,” said Kyree King, who was stuck in seventh place when he finished the third stage of a race that ended with a disqualification for the U.S. “We came here with the mindset that if you don’t take risks, you don’t win. So we went out there and gave it our all. It didn’t happen.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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