PARIS, France — It wasn't long before the men's 4x100-meter relay unraveled for the United States.
On the first exchange, Christian Coleman crashed into Kenny Bednarek, then actually ran by him as they were awkwardly passing the baton. By the time Fred Kerley took the stick for the anchor lap, the U.S. was in seventh place.
Looking in on the relays in disgust, but not surprise, was Carl Lewis, a two-time winner in this race who is never shy about calling out the USA Track and Field relay team.
“It is time to blow up the system,” he said on social media. “This continues to be completely unacceptable. It is clear that EVERYONE at USATF 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.”
In an interview last week with The Associated Press, Lewis suggested experts in the U.S. develop a relay manual and send it to every high school coach in the country.
“The issue has always been politics, has always been drama, has always been deception,” Lewis said. “If they can eliminate those things, there’s no question they have the fastest team in the world.”
Some might blame the latest loss on the impact of the lineup shuffle. Lyles, who ran anchor in the U.S. victory last year at world championships, probably would have done so again at Stade de France.
But that task went to Kerley, and Bednarek ran second. It set him up to receive the pass from Coleman.
A day earlier in qualifying, Coleman handed to Kerley with his right hand while grabbing Kerley’s arm with his left — an awkward exchange that didn’t cost anything.
This one did. The only U.S. medal during its dry spell was a silver in 2012 that was later stripped due to doping.
“At the end of the day, we knew what we could do,” said Kyree King, who ran the third leg. “We came out here and we had the mindset of no risk, no reward, so we went out there and went big. It didn’t happen.”