RIO DE JANEIRO — One day after seeing its Olympic hopes nearly dashed following a bobbled baton, the U.S. women’s 4x100 relay team claimed gold with a time of 41.01 seconds and defended its medal from the 2012 London Games.
The time led the field by a significant margin but came up short of the team’s time (40.20) four years ago, which set an Olympic and world record that still stands.
Jamaica (41.36) finished in silver and Great Britain (41.77) in bronze. The USA and Jamaica also finished gold-silver in London.
"It’s special," Allyson Felix told NBC. "It’s so cool to share it with all these ladies. We went out there, we had fun tonight, and it was about time something good happened."
U.S. women retain title, win gold in 4x100m relay
The gold comes after a nerve-racking and surreal Thursday, which began with the USA fumbling its baton during the second exchange of the first round.
On replay, however, it became apparent that a Brazilian runner had bumped Felix upon entering the exchange zone, directly leading to the fumbled baton. The USA appealed and won, and then advanced into the finals during a surreal solo run on Thursday evening.
In the final, Felix's hand-off to English Gardner was hiccup-free. Gardner said she was just trusting Felix.
"It was just executing once again, like we did last night, and we were going to get the job done," Gardner told NBC.
The U.S. team consisted of Tianna Bartoletta, Felix, Gardner and Tori Bowie, the latter also a medalist in both the women’s 100 and 200 meters.
"It’s a humbling experience," Bowie told NBC. "I feel like I had the easiest job of it all. My teammates just brought me the stick, and all I had to do was bring it through the finish line."
