At least there was the 4x4. Without them, the Tokyo Olympics would've been a complete failure for the "track" portion of the U.S. men's track & field team (although it's not like the "field" team did much better). A team that was touted as "possibly the best ever assembled" proved to be anything but. Sure, they won the most medals of anybody. But even they'll be the first to admit that they did not have a good meet. Nothing close. In fact, the overall performance was nearly as bad as Nike's never-ending selection of uniforms! (Why were they pink?! Or were they supposed to be red?! And why did the relay teams have completely different jerseys...that made them look like the team from France?!)
Sure, there were some highlights. Rai Benjamin finished second in the greatest 400 hurdles race ever and ran faster than the previous world record. There's nothing negative that can be said about his performance. He ran a great race and got beat. Plain and simple.
And Ryan Crouser did exactly what was expected in the shot put. He didn't break his own world record, but he still put on a show! And it tells you all you need to know that he set the Olympic record and was disappointed.
Chris Nielsen added an unexpected silver in the pole vault, an event that was originally supposed to be a duel between Mondo Duplantis and Sam Kendricks until Kendricks turned up positive for COVID. Everyone else, though, on both the track and field sides, failed to live up to expectations. And, frankly, some of the performances were as embarrassing to watch as NBC's "coverage." (Fortunately the world feed is what they showed online.)
It all culminated with the disaster that was the 4x100 relay. The U.S. used to own this event, but, thanks to certain tall guy, it became Jamaica's domain while the Americans often struggled to just get the baton around the track. With Bolt gone, the U.S. put together a veritable all-star team at the 2019 World Championships and won the gold medal in convincing fashion. So, even without Christian Coleman (suspended) and Justin Gatlin (didn't make the team) from that squad, the U.S. was still among the favorites in Tokyo.
However, instead of contending for a medal, we got a team that didn't even make it out of the first round. This wasn't one of the typical U.S. relay failures, either. They didn't drop the baton or pass out of the zone. Nope. They found a completely new way to not qualify. They got beat. And they didn't just get beat. They finished sixth. Out of eight. In a heat!
Unfortunately, it's also something that was easy to see coming. It's a microcosm of the entire Olympic meet for the men's team. With very few exceptions, they all underperformed, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the relay team would as well. What was shocking was the degree to which they underperformed. They got beat by China, Germany and Ghana. And this was the team that consisted of the top four finishers at Trials, so it was theoretically the "A" team that would've run again in the final. Except they didn't get there.
Carl Lewis, who knows a thing or two about running relays (and being a selfish athlete), summed it up perfectly in his tweet after the race. USA Track & Field knows it, too. The entire system is flawed, which explains why the U.S. has had relay failure after relay failure over the past several years. They've often been able to mask these issues with superior talent, but even that's not enough anymore. Especially since you need to make the final first!
So, in a way, maybe what happened in the men's 4x1 in Tokyo was a good thing. Kind of like how the bronze in Athens forced a reset of USA Basketball, this may force a change in how USA Track & Field approaches the 4x100 relay. Because it hasn't been working for a while. This was just the latest, most embarrassing example.
As Ato repeatedly points out during NBC's broadcasts of the Olympics and World Championships, having a good relay team is more than just having the four fastest runners. That's why countries that aren't generally considered "sprint powers" have consistently good relays. They know who their four best runners are, so their team is consistent. They all run the same legs and, more importantly, they practice together and are able to work on handoffs regularly.
In the U.S., that's most definitely not the case. In their "interview" with Lewis Johnson (which basically consisted of Trayvon Bromell calling the whole thing "B.S." while standing nowhere near the microphone), the members of the relay team admitted as much. They didn't even know who was running, let alone the order, until a few hours before the race. And it showed! There was absolutely no chemistry or cohesion on that foursome!
Of course, one problem that the U.S. will be unable to avoid is the lack of consistent personnel. That's just a fact of life in this country, where there's so much talent and anybody can earn a spot on the team. But that's why you have a relay camp once the entire team gets together! Then they can actually practice passes! What a concept! Beyond that, it would also allow coaches to figure out the best order, which is just as important and choosing the right runners.
The fact that this phenomenon only affects the 4x1 isn't a coincidence, either. The 4x1 is a blind handoff that allows very little margin for error and requires precision. In the 4x4, meanwhile, it's a sighted pass, and you generally have time to recover after a slight mistake. But even in the 4x4, you need the right personnel in the right order (unless you have a ridiculous foursome like Allyson Felix, Sydney McLaughlin, Dalilah Muhammad and Athing Mu).
Is this something fixable? Yes. The US has way too much talent in the men's 100 meters for it not to be. Fixing it won't be easy, though. But, no matter how hard it is, it's something that needs to happen. Because, come Paris, it'll be 24 years since the United States last won gold and 20 years since the U.S. even medaled in the men's 4x100 relay at an Olympics. And that's simply unacceptable!
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