I can kind of give them a pass this year because Noah Lyles was supposed to be on the team and they had to make a last second change because of Noah getting COVID. So they couldn't have had any practice time at full speed, thus the new guy had to judge on the fly and messed up. Plus they reordered the lineup. The green haired guy (sorry I can't remember their names...) moves from #2 to #4 and the new guy was placed at #2 and that's the hand-off that got them disqualified.
Ahh....nah. No pass for the U.S., given that this has happened on virtually a four-year cycle. (I ran track, in high school and after college.)
I'd look at:
- Preparation: I think Carl Lewis and Otto Bolden have this right: the U.S. needs to go to a system where the top 6 to 8 100 meter runners. need to attempt mandatory practices for relays (otherwise, forget alternate spots).
- Game strategy; There's no way you put someone who is not used to taking and giving a baton into the 2nd or third slots on short notice, unless they've trained together (and it was obvious they didn't).
Lyles can't make it? Just put the chosen sub into the last slot and that's that. The idea that the U.S. speed can simply make up for shoddy execution is arrogant...and wrong. What's that definition of insane? When you keep doing the same thing that doesn't work?
- Professionalism. I know Lewis had the runners' backs and put this on the system/coaching staff, but Bolden also said professional sprinters have to know/live up to being relay runners. Look at what the girls were doing pre-race: practicing handoffs (n the waiting room) and reminding each other to be on the outside of the lane so the handoff will have room (usually right hand to left). (Our #2 runner left so early, there was no way the other guy could get to him in the zone. He didn't. That's a basic skill.)
I'd think that higher-ups in the U.S. Olympic Committee have noticed these results and will weigh in heavily, with the Olympics in LA next time.
