Botched relay exchanges wreck night for U.S.

BEIJING -- Tyson Gay's Olympics became a complete loss Thursday night, when the reigning world champion in the 100 meters could not handle the baton on the final exchange in the preliminary heat of the 400-meter relay.

On a rainy night, the baton slipped out of Gay's left hand as Darvis Patton tried to pass it to him. That knocked the United States out of a showdown with Jamaica in the final.

A botched exchange in the heats also cost a U.S. men's sprint relay team a likely medal in the 1988 Olympics.

Gay, recovering from a hamstring injury, failed to make the 100 final.

Then, unbelievably, 30 minutes later, the U.S. women's relay went out on another botched relay exchange, as Lauryn Williams could not close her hand around the baton Torri Edwards handed to her.

This is the second straight Olympic relay mishap for Williams, who in 2004 was called for running out of the zone on the anchor exchange with Marion Jones.

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Lauryn Williams lets the baton slip away, unable to get a good grasp once Torri Edwards, right, passed it to her. Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press

Comments

[john Cohoon]

I think NBC's prime time coverage of the Women's Olympics has been fantastic!

Does anyone know when the men's games begin?

[Bill Baldwin, Jr.]

In the four years Angela Williams was at USC and winning the NCAA 100 title each year, I don't recall the SC women EVER dropping the baton in the 4x100. It may have happened, but never in the big meets ( UCLA / Pac 10/ NCAA) and Williams always ran the opening leg....such a great runner.

And Tori Edwards while at USC was outstanding and I don't remember any of her 4x100 relay teams dropping the baton. The point being, the USC women's 4X100 relay teams were coached well and practiced sufficiently to complete their relays.

But I can tell you who was running the anchor for the US Women in both Athens and Beijing: the same person unfortunately, Lauryn Williams. It may be harsh to say, but this year especially, after being shut out of the medals in the 100 meters, Williams didn't do what she obviously had to do: make sure, after the US men and thier flame out 30 minutes before, to make the exchange with the hard charging Edwards. Williams ran too soon and out of the lane in 2004 and too late in 2008, compounding the problem by not looking back to wrap her left hand around the baton. Edwards put in there once, Williams never closed her fingers and that was it,.

I'm sure the men and women feel awful, but that doesn't excuse this performance. You wonder, because of the pros dominating the sport of track and field, that perhaps it's impossible to get the "stars" from the US team out to practice hand offs. Sure looked like it.

Where were the USA Track coaches for both Men's and Women's relay teams? Was there any practice time devoted to this ? If it was more than a perfunctory 30 minutes for both squads combined, I would be shocked.

But if no coaches bothered to try and train them, the athletes themselves should have done it. They've been running 4x100 relays since high school, and so one would expect runners of this elite level would take it upon themselves to practice the one aspect of the relay that can and has ruined the USA in the Olympics.