Harry Wilmerding
Olympic track and field legend Carl Lewis ripped the U.S. men’s 4×100 meter relay team on Twitter after their poor performance Thursday.
Carl Lewis, an eight-time U.S. Olympic gold medal winner, expressed his frustration on Twitter after the men’s Olympic relay team had a terrible baton handoff during the 4×100 meter relay, resulting in a 6th place finish in the qualifying round and ruining any chance to medal.
“The USA team did everything wrong in the men’s relay. The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership,” Lewis said in the tweet.
“It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) kids I saw,” he added.
The loss was mostly due to the messy handoff between Ronnie Baker and Fred Kerley, which took three separate attempts before the baton was securely placed in Kerley’s hand.
“We just didn’t get the job done today. That’s all,” Kerley said, according to Fox News.
The U.S. won gold in the 4×100 meter relay 15 times, most recently at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The team last medaled in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, finishing second.
“I’m honestly kind of mad, not at these guys, they did what they could do,” team member Trayvon Bromell said about the loss, Fox News reported.
“Like I said, these guys did their job, I did what I could do. On the first leg, it just — it’s really some BS for real, to be honest with you,” Bromell added.
Team member Cravon Gillespie said the loss was “frustrating” and that the team needs to “pick it up” for the worlds championships next year and the next Olympics “because this is unacceptable,” according to CNN.
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