US Men's 400m Relay Team Shockingly Eliminated... Carl Lewis Says "Worse Than Young Athletes"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The United States men's 400m relay team suffered a shocking elimination in the preliminaries.

In response, Carl Lewis (60), the "legend of American track and field" who won nine gold medals at the Olympics, strongly criticized the lack of preparation of the U.S. team.

The U.S. men's 400m relay team competed in Heat 2 of the men's 400m relay preliminaries at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium in Japan on the 5th, finishing 6th with a disappointing time of 38.10 seconds.

The Olympic 400m relay preliminaries are divided into two heats. The top three teams from each heat, totaling six teams, along with the next two fastest teams outside of those six, advance to the finals, making a total of eight teams.

Ranked as a favorite to win, the U.S. team finished 6th in their heat, failing to qualify for the finals, let alone win a medal.

On that day, the U.S. team ran in the order of Trayvon Bromell, Fred Curley, Lonnie Baker, and Craven Gillespie. When the second runner Curley passed the baton to the third runner Baker, they faltered due to poor coordination. Ultimately, the U.S. crossed the finish line in 6th place.

Carl Lewis pointed out on his social media (SNS) Twitter that "The U.S. team did nothing right in this relay race. The baton passing system was wrong, and the synchronization of the footwork between the incoming and outgoing runners was also incorrect," adding, "The leadership was completely broken."

He harshly criticized, "It was a performance worse than that of young athletes in American amateur track and field."

Heat 2 was won by China, who had "sufficient relay training." China advanced to the finals as the winner of Heat 2 and second overall with a time of 37.92 seconds. Japan also secured a finals ticket by finishing 3rd in Heat 1 with a time of 38.16 seconds. Jamaica advanced to the finals as the overall first place with a time of 37.82 seconds, smoothly heading toward their third consecutive Olympic victory.