American track and field legend Carl Lewis didn’t hold back in his assessment of the US men’s 4x100m relay team after the quartet finished sixth in its semifinal on Thursday.
The performance by the team, which comprised of two of the individual 100m finalists, Fred Kerley and Ronnie Baker, world leader Trayvon Bromell and Cravon Gillespie, ensured the US extended its longest run without an Olympic medal in this event.
“The USA team did everything wrong in the men’s relay,” the 60-year-old Lewis, who won the 4x100 Olympic gold medal twice as well as seven other golds, wrote on Twitter.
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“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 (Amateur Athletic Union) kids I saw.”
Despite the pedigree of its runners, the US team struggled with changeovers and their speed, as the anchor Gillespie – a shock inclusion ahead of Kenny Bednarek or Noah Lyles – struggled to make an impression in the final stint.
China ended up the surprise heat winners with a time of 37.92. Canada, with anchor 200m champion Andre de Grasse, finished second, and Italy, with individual 100m champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs, posted a national record 37.95 to also advance.
Germany and Ghana also finished ahead of Team USA to take the two fastest losers’ slots in Friday’s final.
The US has won the men’s 4x100m relay a record 15 times at the Olympic Games, but not since 2000 in Sydney.
And the American men haven’t medaled in this event since winning silver in Athens in 2004.
The US men failed to finish the race in 2008 and were disqualified at the past two Olympic Games.
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Gillespie said the result of the race was “frustrating” to he and his fellow sprinters.
“Honestly, I’m not even sure. It’s definitely frustrating coming this far, making the team … (not reaching the final) that’s not why we’re here,” he told the media.
“We’ve definitely got to pick it up for the worlds (championships) next year and the next Olympics because this is unacceptable,” he added.
