Four years ago when the United States could only finish “third” in the women’s 4x100m relay it was one of the shocks of the Games. This gold was meant to be one of the easy ones for Marion Jones but she ended up with a bronze. The Bahamas quartet which stole victory that day was immediately dubbed the golden girls.
Tonight, in their first Olympic rematch, the USA sent a powerful message to the girls from the Caribbean when they stormed to victory in the first heat of the first round leaving the reigning Olympic champions flailing in their wake.
Running in lane one, and with Marion Jones on second leg, but without either Allyson Felix or Muna Lee, finallists in last night’s 200m, the United States exhibited three smooth changes to come home some 15 metres ahead of the champions, clocking 41.67 equalling their quickest of 2004.
Led off by Angela Williams, the USA made up ground on Colombia, in lane two, by the first exchange. Jones took the baton and ran hard down the long back straight stretch, handing off to Lauryn Williams. By the time the Bahamas’ Debbie Ferguson, had the stick, out in lane six, LaTasha Colander was already flying down the home straight.
The Bahamas – running with Timicka Clarke on first, Chandra Sturrup on second, Shandria Brown third and Ferguson on anchor – finished in 43.02, almost a second and half behind their rivals.
Afterwards, Ferguson denied they were feeling the pressure of being defending champions. “There’s no pressure at all,” said yesterday’s 200m bronze medallist. “I’m feeling a little bit of fatigue, bu the team comes first.
“We made it to the final. Now all we have to do is go and get the gold. It’s all about the team, baby.”
Team Belgium, with Kim Gevaert on anchor, almost caught the champions on the line, setting a national record of 43.08.
It was a similar story in the second heat, where Jamaica, silver medallists in Sydney, were beaten into second place by a confident and well-drilled Russian foursome. Like USA, Jamaica had been drawn in the first lane and running the tight bends appeared to hamper their chances.
At the 200m press conference last night, Veronica Campbell predicted that Jamaica would win gold in the relay, saying, “I think all we have to do is get the baton round and we will win it.”
Well, they’ll have to do a bit more in the final, because tonight they were second best. Admittedly, they were running without Campbell, probably still recovering from last night’s celebrations, but by the final exchange Aleen Bailey was two metres down on Russia’s anchor Larissa Kruglova.
Bailey, another 200m finallist reappearing this evening, ran a strong leg and made up some ground, but the Russians held on to record 42.12, the second quickest of the round. Jamaica were eight hundredths behind, with France getting the third atuomatic qualifying spot, in 42.98.
The two fastest qualifiers also came form this heat – Nigeria in fourth with 43.00, and Belarus, with 100m champion Yuliya Netserenko running the first leg, in fifth with 43.06, two hundredths outside their national record. Nesterenko and Natalya Safronnikova had actually given the Belarussians an excellent start, but they faded badly over the last two legs.
Bar Sydney, USA have won every 4x1 since Los Angeles in 1984. They look on course to add another on Friday.
MB
