4 x 100m relay (spoiler)

US Women did the same thing.

I CAN HAZ CLEAN BATON PASS? 

Wow, how disappointing--both men and women drop it, and yes, I wondered about the handwritten ones too--we were the only ones??? Weird.

Having coached track and field in HS and worked on handoffs with our sprinters A LOT, I can't see how this could happen!!!!!  We were working with just average kids - not world class atheletes... and we had our handoffs down tight!  I saw so many teams with terrible handoffs last night, almost as if no training went into it but the entire process for the 4x100 was to just pick 4 fast individuals and let them at it.  Even the announcers were highlighting that the 4 fastest people in the world can lose a relay if they run up each other's backs, take off too soon/fast and then have to hit the brakes, etc.

Pathetic.  And not just the US.  A dozen different teams with at least one TERRIBLE handoff.  Even the Jamaican women who will almost surely win it all had a major mistake (they recovered) when their anchor runner took off and ran to the wrong side of the lane and the third leg runner had to hit the brakes!

When did the relay become an afterthought?  I always thought of it as one of the highlights of the olympics.  I know that the 4x100 and 4x400 were always some of the favorite events even at HS track meets.  Thumbs down for USA Track and Field coaching!

X2

I think 4 of the teams in our (USA) heat DNFed.  That's unreal and unacceptable.  They asked, I think Gay, after the race, how much the coaches emphasized the handoff and I think he said something like, "yeah, we practiced it a couple of days ago."