‘Blow it up’: Carl Lewis calls on US to change relay system after Paris debacle

The nine-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis has called on USA Track and Field to “blow up the system” after another Olympic debacle for the men’s 4x100m relay team.

The US men extended their relay drought to 20 years without a medal in the relay on Friday in Paris, after they were disqualified for an illegal pass. Christian Coleman crashed into teammate Kenny Bednarek while making the baton exchange between the first and second legs, disrupting the timing of the pass and forcing the exchange outside the legal zone.

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“It is time to blow up the system,” Lewis wrote on X after the disappointing result. “This continues to be completely unacceptable. It is clear that EVERYONE at [USA Track and Field] is more concerned with relationships than winning. No athlete should step on the track and run another relay until this program is changed from top to bottom.”

Canada clinched the top spot on the podium, with Andre De Grasse putting a bright mark on an otherwise disappointing Olympics by anchoring Canada to gold in a time of 37.50 seconds. It was the first medal in Paris for De Grasse, but his seventh overall. South Africa finished second and Team GB third – the US crossed the line in seventh before their disqualification.

Earlier in the day, Sha’Carri Richardson anchored the US women’s team to gold in the women’s 4x100m final, winning her first Olympic medal. But despite the success of the women’s team, it was a more-of-the-same result for the men’s side.

Even without Noah Lyles, who was out of the lineup due to Covid, the US entered the race as favorites. But over the past 20 years, they’ve had a knack for gagging away Olympic opportunities. The last time they captured a medal was in 2012, but that was later stripped for a doping violation.

For the most part, relays have looked a lot like Friday, with poor exchanges and disqualifications plaguing the team throughout the Olympic drought.

2004 Athens: a bungled exchange left the US men in silver behind Team GB.

2008 Beijing: the US failed to advance beyond the heats after a dropped baton.

2012 London: the US finished second to Jamaica, but were later disqualified for a doping offense.

2016 Rio: the US were disqualified in the final after another botched exchange.

2021 Tokyo: a poor exchange kept the US from reaching the final.

In the world championships, results have been slight better. But not by much. Over that time, US Track and Field has faced accusations that it has not prioritized relays – and that the lineup has too often changed within a Games, harming the chemistry of the team. But the four-man squad for the final in Paris disputed that.

“We practised a lot,” Coleman said after the race. “Me and Kenny have been on the team a few times, and we felt really confident going out there. It’s part of the sport. We wanted to do it, we wanted to bring it home, we knew we had the speed to do it but this is a risk-reward type of thing.”

Lewis had earlier said that the coaches, not athletes, should be blamed if the US failed to sweep the relay finals. “If Team USA wins all relays tomorrow,” Lewis wrote the day before the finals. “You talk to the athletes. If something happens and they do not sweep. ONLY talk to the coaches.”

The coaching approach did not appear to affect the women’s team, who got across the line cleanly to take their 12th Olympic gold medal in the event. The men’s team, as so often before, simply did not gel.

• This article was amended on 9 August 2024 to reflect the fact the US men’s team crossed the line in seventh, not third.