US Men's 4x100m Team Very Frustrated After Ugly Sixth-Place Finish in Qualifying Heat
The US men's 4x100 team of Trayvon Bromell, Fred Kerley, Ronnie Baker and Crayvon Gillespie failed to reach the Olympic final on Thursday, finishing sixth in their qualifying race. A bad exchange between Ronnie Baker and Fred Kerley doomed Team USA, but their problems didn't start there.
@USOlympic The Men’s 4X100 relay team is OUT of the Finals and again this year they looked TERRIBLE!!! pic.twitter.com/8PSv65R9Eu
— Charles G. Conner (@CharConner) August 5, 2021
The team was visibly frustrated after their elimination with Bromell telling NBC that it was "B.S." as the network cut off the interview. No video exists online, but if you want to swing by my house I'll show you the one I took with my phone.
THE SPEED.
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) August 5, 2021
China, Canada, and Italy are through to the final in men's 4x100m relay. #TokyoOlympics
? NBC
? https://t.co/prLiNjuJnV
? NBC Sports App pic.twitter.com/ySSLDV0Pis
Kerley and Baker then spoke with the press, alluding to a lack of practice.
Two members of the U.S. 4x100 team spoke with the media in the mixed zone. Asked how much practice they had for this event, as a group, coming into today.
— Tom Schad (@Tom_Schad) August 5, 2021
Fred Kerley: "Don't know."
Ronnie Baker: "Not much."
This was not lost on anyone as that exchange was brutally bad. Carl Lewis pointed out a couple other problems and unfavorably compared the national runners to AAU athletes.
The USA team did everything wrong in the men's relay. The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership. It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw .
— Carl Lewis (@Carl_Lewis) August 5, 2021
The United States has not medaled in the 4x100 since they took the silver in 2004.