Carl Lewis calls for major changes after USA botches relay

Carl Lewis. Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Carl Lewis calls for major changes after USA botches another relay

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Aug 9, 2024 4:13 PM ET

With nine Olympic gold medals on his resume, Carl Lewis knows a thing or two about what it takes to be an Olympic champion.

He is not seeing that from the men's 4X100 relay team after another blown relay race on Friday, resulting in a second straight disqualification for the group.

Shortly after the American men botched a fourth consecutive relay in Olympic competition, Lewis took to social media site X and ripped the team's performance and coaching/ He believes the entire system needs an overhaul.

It is time to blow up the system. This continues to be completely unacceptable. It is clear that EVERYONE at @usatf is more concerned with relationships than winning. No athlete should step on the track and run another relay until this program is changed from top to bottom. https://t.co/Re6THj8QTm
— Carl Lewis (@Carl_Lewis) August 9, 2024

On Thursday, Lewis posted on X that if the American teams won all of their relays, people should talk to the athletes about their victories. But if they failed, he said that all questions should be focused on the coaches.

As such, Lewis now wants the spotlight placed beyond the competitors.

The men's relay team has not won a medal since 2004, and in each Olympic competition since, they have had major issues passing the baton. They could have overcome that at the 2012 Games with a silver medal, but were stripped of their second-place finish after Tyson Gay's doping violation.

The issue on Friday came when Kenny Bednarek appeared to leave too early and could not get a clean handoff from Christian Coleman. Bednarek overran the legal hand-off zone, resulting in the disqualification.

The women's team, meanwhile, was able to win its 4X100 relay with an incredible comeback that was completed by individual 100m silver medalist Sha'Carri Richardson.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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