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Track Legend Carl Lewis Vents On US Olympics Relay Failures: “It Is Time To Blow Up The System”

bruce haring
·2-min read

Angered by Team USA’s botched baton handoff Friday at the Paris Olympics in the men’s 4×100-meter relay — the 11th since 1995 resulting in disqualifications or bans — nine-time Olympic gold medal winner Carl Lewis is calling for change.

The U.S. relay team was seeking its first Olympic gold in the event in 24 years. They were disqualified after they flubbed the first exchange, handing off outside the permitted zone.

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“It is time to blow up the system,” Lewis posted on X. “This continues to be completely unacceptable. It is clear that EVERYONE at USAFT [USA Track & 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.

The Canadian men won the relay today, with South Africa taking silver and Great Britain the bronze. The U.S. men’s team entered the final as gold-medal favorites as the reigning world champions and fastest qualifiers.

The team of Christian Coleman, Kenneth Bednarek, Kyree King and Fred Kerley finished seventh before the disqualification.

Before the race, Lewis foreshadowed who deserved blame is the U.S. didn’t win.

“If @TeamUSA wins all relays tomorrow, you talk to the athletes. If something happens and they do not sweep. ONLY talk to the coaches,” Lewis said in a post to X.

Men’s 100-meter Olympic champion Noah Lyles was going to be part of the relay, but dropped out after testing positive for Covid on Tuesday. He won bronze in his signature event, the 200 meters, on Thursday, despite his diagnosis. But he left the track in a wheelchair.

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