US dominated the 4 x 100m Men’s relay in the Olympics. They have won 15 gold medals from 1932 to 2000. Then, they began to suck:
2004: Lost to Britain
2008: Dropped the baton
2012: Disqualified – doping positive
2016: Disqualified – changeover offence
And yesterday, they messed up again.
Meanwhile, other countries began to rise. Personally, I am biased towards the rise of Japan and China:
Japan:
2000: 6th
2004: 4th
2008: ๐ฅ (later promoted to ๐ฅ because of doping related disqualification)
2012: 4th
2016: ๐ฅ
2020: Qualified
China:
2008: Final round (but was disqualified)
2012: Did not make it to the final round
2016: 4th
2020: Qualified with the second fastest time out of all countries
And this year, they will both be in the Finals. The most fascinating thing about these achievements was that Japan and China didn’t have fast runners, but they made up by perfecting the baton exchange.
Individually they weren’t great but collectively they were.
๐ฅ Watch the breathtaking 2016 race, featuring Japan, China, a DSQ US, and Usain Bolt:
๐ฅ Geek out on baton exchange:
I can’t wait to watch the race tonight.
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