Thursday, August 5th, 2021
Angry outburst from Carl Lewis
US stars embarrass themselves in the sprint season
By Tobias Nordmann
When it comes to medals in sprint relays, the US is always a favorite, and usually the top favorite. That’s how many fast men (and women) the country has. But this reservoir is sometimes not enough. The US boys deliver a bizarre spectacle at the Olympic Games.
This year there were only 16 men faster than Cravon Gillespie over 100 meters. So if you claim that Cravon Gillespie is one of the fastest men in the world, then that is certainly not a particularly debatable thesis. But one thing is very interesting: of the 16 men who were even faster than the American this year, nine are also American. Which in turn means: the 25-year-old is a top sprinter among many in his home country. Among the best, but not among the very best. They are chosen at the trials. Now Cravon Gillespie was nevertheless at the Olympic Games. As a man for the 4×100 meter relay. In the semifinals he was the last runner.
And as the last man on his team, he finished what became a national embarrassment. The US boys were only sixth in their run. Sixth! The United States, that nation of great (often doped) sprinters, has embarrassed itself. And not just because of Gillespie, who started running on the home straight as if he were dealing with the devil and then fell back from second to third from last place. He was even overtaken by Lucas Ansah-Peprah, a young German who saved his season with a furious finish to the finals (over time). The pictures that the international director showed immediately after the run only dealt briefly with cheering Germans and cheering Chinese. They had surprisingly won the preliminary run.
The pictures that the international director showed dealt with the stunned US boys. Embarrassingly failed superstars, that serves the drama-voyeurism of the audience. And the suffering of the runners, that was the suffering of the best. Because the Americans hadn’t spared their top staff in the round before the final. Which usually happens again and again. Trayvon Bromell had tackled the first 100 meters, he had passed the baton to Fred Kerley, who had already won silver in the sprint final. It was followed by Ronnie Baker, the fifth fastest man of the year. And finally Gillespie, who had broken in so strangely. But it was also made difficult for him. He was only allowed to hit the home straight in sixth. Unimaginable for a season that was so superbly positioned in the first three positions.
The drama had started much earlier on the ultra-fast Mondo train. Bromell, who surprisingly failed in the individual semi-finals, also struggled in the season. At least his handover to Kerley worked. The most formally strong US boy put down a strong straight, but was then the tragic figure. He ran too close to Baker. His hand then looked for the staff in the wrong place. His hand was digging somewhere on his colleague’s neck. Kerley grabbed Baker’s arm and thrust the most important item of the barrel into his hand. Important hundredths were lost, Baker was only able to accelerate much too late as he wanted. A surreal spectacle. American naivete, it was bitterly punished. It was not the team with the fastest guys who won the race, but the team that also functioned as a team.
Proper arrogance towards competition
Questions were asked. Many questions. The most frequently formulated was like this: How many times have you trained relay teams? “Don’t know,” Kerley said. Baker said, “Not many.” Gillespie provided a terrifying explanation. They trained for two days. Other nations make the relay (successfully) a science. Simply trusting in the quality of the individual sprinters is a real arrogance towards the competition. In the United States, embarrassment became a big issue.
The legendary Carl Lewis, who himself had won six Olympic gold in the sprint (100 meters, 200 meters and relay), was particularly outraged. “They did everything wrong. The handovers were wrong, the order of the runners was wrong, and there was no management structure,” he tweeted angrily. In fact, you have to question why the two 100-meter specialists Bromell and Baker had to run the curves that require special technology. Kerley, actually a trained specialist over 400 meters, and Gillespie (over 200 meters and 20 seconds on the way), could have contributed their expertise much more profitably.
And then Lewis added again: “America sits there and cheers you on and then you see this clown show,” the now 60-year-old grumbled in an interview with “USA Today”. The proud sprint nation, it leaves Tokyo without Olympic victory in distances of up to and including 400 meters. Even silver for Kerley over 100 meters and silver and bronze for Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles over 200 meters are no consolation for the both indignant and resigned collective.
Once upon a time, the season was a firmly planned gold. By the year 2000, the US boys won the Olympic gold fifteen times, in 20 events. Nothing works since then. In 2004 there was silver, in 2008 final runner Tyson Gay missed the baton, in 2012 silver was subsequently revoked because of a doping offense committed by Gay. And in 2016 the relay was disqualified because of a substitutional error. “Trying the perfect timing with a few exercises is a bit difficult,” Baker tried to explain the next disaster. In fact, it is the tenth time since 1995 that the US season has given away potential victories at major events. Either due to a lost baton, a doping violation or an incorrect change. After all: At the last World Cup in Doha in 2019, there was gold. One with flavors, however. Because in the season Justin Gatlin and Christian Coleman ran with, two shady characters of the US sprint scene.
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