USA Men's and Women's Relay Team BOTH Drop Baton
In an unprecedented occurrence, both the men's and women's track and field Olympic relay teams drop the baton during the anchor leg of the race. First, in the men's 4 x 100 meter relay, Tyson Gay takes off in the last leg with his hand outstretched to receive the baton. Darvis Patton, running furiously in the 3rd leg, misses his hand and drops it! Just like that, the US, who was among the favorites to win the gold medal, is suddenly completely out of it.
Gay, who has already been having a quite disappointing Olympics since he didn't make the finals in the 100 meter men's, can now add this to the pile.
In what can only be described as a nightmarish bit of deja vu, the women's team drops the baton in the exact same leg of the race as Torri Edwards flubs the pass to Lauryn Williams. Unfortunately for the women's team, this is a repeat of what happened to them in Athens, 2004.
While being interviewed after this stunning debacle, Torri Edwards, 3rd leg runner and dropper of the baton was asked what happened. Her response was "Somebody put some voodoo on this US track and field team. I don't know what happened out there". I have to wonder about that myself. Nothing rational can explain just how crazy and unbelievable this entire situation is. As a matter of fact, with the exception of LaShawn Merritt's gold medal win in an American sweep of the 400 meters, and Dawn Harper's win of the women's 100 meter hurdles, the 2008 Beijing Olympics has been one of the worst performances of the US track and field team EVER.
The glorious performances of Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Maurice Green, Flo Jo, and Gail Deavers are distant, wistful memories. Where does the US track and field team go from here? Walking away from this Olympics with so many disappointments, it couldn't possibly get any worse than this.
10 comments:
Wow! What is going on? When the men dropped the baton, I turned the channel and forgot to turn back. I cannot believe the women followed in their footsteps. I love watching the Olympics and track and field is my favorite to watch. You are so right about the terrible performances the Americans have been turning in.
Did she really say someone put voodoo on the team? Oh please!
Track and field has always been my favorite Olympic event to watch and, like you, I look back on the amazing performances of the past. There was a time when no one could touch the USA on the track. I guess all good things come to an end.
What ridiculous bad luck. Such a shame isn't it? Did you see our poor 100 meter hurdle fall? I don't remember the Olympian's name but I know she was a favorite for the 100m hurdles and she hit the first one hard and that was it for her. :-( Poor US.
They didn't do too well this time round and looks like it's hard for the US to chase China in the medal tally.
It is very sad that an event that the athletes devoted their lives to training for did not go as planned. It must be heartbreaking for the athletes.
Ugh! I saw that! What was that all about?
Hi Fitness Diva,
I just couldn't resist throwing my pennies in the pot.
As someone who doesn't believe in any form of the supernatural I find this issue of 'voodoo' quite interesting. You will note that when failure occurs then it must be down to something which equates as negative - voodoo, but if the team had won then there would have been many excited outpourings about how it was down to 'god'.
The time for following these outdated ridiculous supernatural ideas should have been long gone but alas they will be with us for a long time to come. This is negative for all humans but particularly the black communities who seem to hold onto religion and all its fallacies for dear life, even when we hear the contradictions in the cobbled-together-texts (the Bible as one example). Time to move on people. Time to move on.
Just sharing my (controversial?) thoughts.
Thank you,
Zee
I saw that myself last night what a debacle! No-one was happy at all and there was absolutely no reason for it. Both of the runner with the batons just blew it.
Bizaare. It was like, why does'nt he just put the baton in his hand? His hand was right there waiting for the baton. I guess it looks much easier than it is because you got to that baton in the hand within a certain distance or you're disqualified.
OK so this is my deal. The phenomenon of what happens when someone is EXPECTED to win, but fate has it that they don't... why? Winners forget to be humble when they give in to expectancy. They put away from being thankful for greatest and become weak to the temptations of arrogance and over-confidence. Put more in an un-pretty fashion: Their asses were probably on their shoulders and when they dropped the batons their asses descended back to their rightful places...down below. The US has to be careful not to look down their noses at other countries. They simply DID NOT practice enough. That's plain and simple.... and painfully obvious. I'm not trying to sound harsh or like a "know it all" but when you practice something, you get better, all the way to the point of mastery. Michael Phelps practices. Kobe Bryant practices. The greatest can never stop practicing. If you don't use it, you'll lose it...JUST LIKE THEY LOST THOSE D@MN BATONS LAST NIGHT! Bet they didn't drop them in high school... what coach would play around with that?
What the heck!?!?! I was so sad to hear this. But hey we still got Phelps to brag about.
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