Sanya Richards rallies relay to Olympic gold

BEIJING -- Two U.S. women disappointed earlier by their individual efforts, Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards, helped the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team win a gold medal, with Richards running against Russia's Anastasia Kapachinskaya on a stirring anchor leg.

Felix, silver medalist in the 200, and Richards, bronze medalist in the 400, had come to Beijing banking on individual gold.

They teamed on the relay with Mary Wineberg and Monique Henderson.

Both Henderson and Richards were on the gold medal 1,600 relay at the 2004 Olympics.

Richards closed most of a 7-meter gap on Kapachinskaya immediately after the exchange, then fell back a few steps before passing the Russian with 30 meters to go and winning by a stride in 28/100ths of a second with a time of 3:18.54.

Richards shook the baton in joy as she crossed the line.

-- Philip Hersh

Photo:  (From left to right) Sanya Richards, Monique Henderson, Allyson Felix and Mary Wineberg of the U.S. celebrate after winning the women's 1,600-meter relay at the National Stadium on Saturday at the Beijing Games. Credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images

Send it to the electoral college of track and field

BEIJING -- This may sound a little like election coverage.

One of the leading female sprinters in the world said the outcome of Saturday's final in the men's Olympic 100 is too close to call among Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell of Jamaica and Tyson Gay of the United States.

"It depends on who handles their nerves best,'' said Sanya Richards, the native Jamaican and naturalized U.S. citizen who is the Olympic favorite in the 400.

And Richards likes the unpredictability.

"It is great when someone dominates an event, but it's more exciting when someone is there to push you,'' she said.

-- Philip Hersh

Photos: From left, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay are the favorites for the men's 100 meters in Beijing. Credit: AFP / Getty Images

Richards-Felix: giving some quarter

The race that should have been a highlight of the Olympics -- and of the U.S. Olympic trials -- is scheduled to take place Tuesday at the DN Galan meet in Stockholm.

That is Allyson Felix against Sanya Richards in the 400 meters.

The international track federation deprived the world of a possible Beijing showdown between the two U.S. stars by refusing to make a schedule change that would have made a 200/400 double practicable in the Olympics.

That left Felix to concentrate on the 200 and Richards the 400, the races that each won handily at the U.S. trials in Eugene.

Track fans had been buzzing about a Felix-Richards confrontation since Felix, who runs the 400 rarely, upset Richards (49.70 to 49.72) in last year's Stockholm meet. Richards had reasserted her supremacy in the event by the end of last season, beating Felix easily (49.79 to 50.17) in their only other meeting, at the Golden League meet in London.

But Felix showed again how good she could be with a startling 48.0 split (to Richards' 49.07) on the winning 4 x 400 relay at the 2007 worlds.

Felix shares the 2008 world-leading 400 time (49.83) with Botswana's Amantle Montsho, who also is scheduled to run in Stockholm, with Richards next at 49.86. The only big name missing from the race is Great Britain's Christine Ohuruogu, who won the 2007 world title in the absence of Richards, who failed to qualify for the event because she was ill at the U.S. world trials.

Track & Field News ranked Richards, Ohuruogu and Felix 1-2-3 in the 400 for 2007.
Subscribers to wcsn.com can watch Tuesday's race streamed live.

-- Philip Hersh

Top photo: Sanya Richards reacts after winning the gold medal in the women's 400 meter during U.S. Olympics trials earlier this month in Oregon. Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Insert: Allyson Felix after winning the gold medal in the women's 200 meter finals during the U.S. Olympic Trials on July 6. Credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images