A Tale of Two Relays: The U.S. Women's 4x100-Meter Relay Team Take Gold, While the Men Have Baton Troubles

As Gabby Thomas placed the baton in the hand of Sha’Carri Richardson for the final 100 meters of the Women’s 4x100m Relay, the United States was in fourth place by 0.18 seconds. To the roaring crowd at Stade de France, the race appeared to be a jumbled group of different colored uniforms starting to takeoff down the home stretch.

But from that group sprung Richardson, cutting through the rain. Turning her head to the right and flashing a quick look at Daryll Neita of Great Britain, the 24-year-old stormed through the finish line in first.

“It was a phenomenal feeling for all of us,” said Richardson. “I remember trusting my third leg, trusting Gabby, and knowing that she's gonna put that stick in my hand no matter what. Then just leave my best on the track.”

The team of Thomas, Richardson, Twanisha “Tee Tee” Terry and Melissa Jefferson claimed gold Friday night. Their time of 41.78 bested Great Britain’s 41.85 and Germany’s 41.97.

The American women continued their legacy of Olympic greatness in the 4x100m. The gold medal is the 12th for Team USA in the event, one more than the rest of the world combined. The winning team from the 2012 Games still holds the World and Olympic records in the event. The storied history of the U.S. women’s success was not lost on the latest quartet of superstars as they set out to become a part of it.

“Just going in and knowing the ladies before us that paved the way,” said Terry. “Just seeing what the ladies before us did and how they were able to get it done. But then also recognizing our generation. We’re new talent and we are all capable of doing what the ladies before us have done.”

Those capabilities rang true for those four on Friday evening. The expectations did not weigh on the shoulders of the women but rather acted as a force carrying them through the finish line and into the history books next to the names that came before them. Despite Terry, Jefferson, and Richardson racing in their first Olympics, and Thomas in her second, they appeared as a team of veterans in tonight’s race. With the same lineup as the one from Round 1 on Thursday, the women had the chance to get a race together before the final.

“As a team, we looked at what we did yesterday and had a talk amongst each other to make the necessary corrections,” said Terry. “But we still had trust and confidence in one another, and that's what we brought out here today.”

The confidence the group has in each other stems from a familiarity. Terry, Jefferson, and Richardson are all training partners at their club in Clermont, Fla. In her post-race press conference, Terry sported a T-shirt that had images of all three of them on the front. With the addition of Thomas, the chemistry seemed almost effortless among the four, a factor that proved to be decisive during their gold medal race. The group appeared unfazed by some shaky handoffs to the third and fourth legs.

“We have that pep talk before we walk in and we make sure everybody’s comfortable,” said Terry of the exchanges. “And even if we do have a mishap or something, we just know that we rely on each other so much to do our job. Don't try to search for (the baton), I’m going to get it to you. And that's just the mindset that we go in with.”

While this is Terry’s first Olympic medal, the relay gold adds to a list of hardware already acquired here in Paris by her teammates. Richardson took silver in the 100m earlier in the week while Jefferson joined her on the podium with bronze. Thomas concludes her trip with two gold medals, securing her first on Tuesday in the 200m. She’s now a four-time Olympic medalist, already owning a bronze in the 200m and a silver in the 4x100m relay three years ago in Tokyo.

“I feel very proud,” said Thomas. “I was grateful to have competed with these ladies… and we got the gold.”

Shortly after the women’s victory, the men of Team USA hoped to do the same in their own 4x100m relay. After qualifying in first yesterday, the Americans were looking primed to take home their first gold medal in the event since 2000. Especially with newly minted 100m champion Noah Lyles expected join the team in finals. Unfortunately, Lyles withdrew from the rest of the competition after his 200m final yesterday due to his COVID-19 diagnosis. However, the quartet of Kenneth Bednarek, Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley and Kyree King still had the talent to put together a potential gold medal relay for the U.S.

Coleman started things off strong for the Americans in the opening leg, but trouble came soon after. Struggle in the handoff between Coleman and Bednarek caused the two crash into one another on the exchange, leaving Bednarek to try to chase down the pack from behind. Though Kerley and King fought through until the finish, the gap proved too significant. At the conclusion of the race, it was confirmed the U.S. had been disqualified due the first exchange happening outside of the handoff zone.

“This is part of the sport, said Coleman. “This is a risk versus reward type of thing and it’s something that just happens. All of us have been through trials and tribulations. We’re going to bounce back from it.”