SAINT-DENIS, France — No problems for this men’s relay team.
The quartet of Christopher Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin completed the four laps around the track in an Olympic record time of 2:54.43 to capture the U.S. gold medal in the men’s 4×400-meter relay for the fifth time in the last six Olympic Games.
Benjamin, Friday’s 400m hurdles gold medalist, started the final event with a lead and beat Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, the 200m gold medalist, at the finish.
Botswana took silver with a time of 2:54.53. Great Britain took bronze in 2:55.83.
The night before, the 4×100 relay team — featuring some of the fastest men in the world — had lost their chance at gold. After being disqualified for the first exchange outside the zone, American sprint legend Carl Lewis demanded an overhaul of the relay program, which has not won a medal in the 4×100 since 2004 and a gold since 2000.
Rai Benjamin holds off Letsile Tebogo to give Team USA gold in the 4x400m relay! #Olympic Games in Paris
📺 NBC & Pauw photo.twitter.com/MhJbrRH43D
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 10, 2024
But those problems don’t apply to the other relays. (Of course, the handoffs are much less intense when you have to run a full lap.) The men’s 4×400-meter relay has now been contested in 26 Olympiads. The U.S. has won 19 of them, including nine of the last 11.
The 400-meter runners are not the most heralded American sprinters. Their names are not on the USA Track and Field bill. But they are gold medalists and record holders. They have always done their jobs well.
The Games in Paris were no exception.
The United States finished third in the preliminary heats, with 16-year-old Quincy Hall taking the leadoff spot and becoming the youngest male track and field athlete to compete at the Olympics. Wilson didn’t set a fast time, and the Americans fell behind. But he gained valuable experience as one of track’s prodigies. With Bailey in the opening event, the U.S. finished second when he handed the baton to Norwood.
Norwood ran a 43.30 to hand it to Deadmon, who pushed the U.S. ahead going into the final 400. And Benjamin — as he did in Tokyo, and at the 2023 world championships, and at the 2019 world championships — brought home gold for the third straight Games.
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(Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
