This is Stuart Weir’s feature on the Sprint Relays from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Sprint relays
When the Jamaican women’s 4 by 100 relay team took silver in the Budapest World Champions, who would have believed that a year later, a Jamaican team missing Shelly-Ann, Elaine, and Shericka would struggle for fifth place in the Paris Olympics. The USA won in Budapest and Paris with the same team: Jefferson, Terry, Thomas, and Richardson. However, in Paris, GB was second and just 0.07 seconds behind the USA, with GB having two, which was not the cleanest baton changes.
The men’s 4 by 100 was an absolute cracker, with the Budapest medal order of USA, Italy, and Jamaica being replaced by Canada, South Africa, and GB. Remarkable that none of last year’s World Championship medallists maintained their podium position. USA was DQed, leading Carl Lewis to comment on Twitter: “It is time to blow up the system. This continues to be completely unacceptable”.
The Canadian success is remarkable, with bronze in 2016, silver in 2021, gold in 2024, and Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, and Andre de Grasse in all three teams. Brown said: “I never stopped believing. These guys can do incredible things when we get together and put our minds to it. It showed today. Never count ourselves out. Give us a lane, give an opportunity, and these guys can make magic together.”
Brendon Rodney added: “Lane 9 was probably the perfect lane. We’re all kind of tall, so we didn’t have to worry about anybody in Lane 9. We just focus on ourselves and just get to run.” Andre de Grasse, who is now the first most decorated Canadian summer Olympian, said:
“It’s amazing to end the Games like this, with a gold medal. We all talked about this moment. It’s a complete set; we got the bronze and silver in Rio. Now it’s like icing on the cake to get the gold medal with these guys. It’s an incredible feeling and a great way to end the Games, so I’m pretty happy. The team did all the work. Aaron ran an amazing curve, and Brendon did his thing as well. I just had to take it home.”
For the USA women, Twanisha Terry talked about “looking at what we did yesterday [semi-final], having a talk with each other, making the necessary corrections coming in. We still had trust and confidence in one another.” Sha’carri Richardson added, “The moment that I will describe is realizing that when we, the USA ladies, won – it was a phenomenal feeling for all of us.
Great performances by the North Americans, but I am left with two questions: what if GB had been more in touch after the early legs of the men’s race and left the galloping Zharnel Hughes a fraction less to do; what if the women had been slicker on those change-overs. Ifs and buts, but the US and Canada were worthy winners.
