The American team won Olympic gold medal Saturday, in the men’s and women’s 4X400 relay, with the men breaking the Olympic record and the women coming within just 0.1 seconds of the world record.
JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images
Moments before the women’s race, the tension was higher in the men’s race. 400m hurdles gold medallist Rai Benjamin held off 200m champion Letsile Tebogo to give the United States a 0.1 second victory over Botswana – the final thriller in a suspenseful nine-day encounter.
Men win gold and Olympic record
Ray Benjamin The United States held off Letsile Tebogo of Botswana in the final leg to give the United States a gold medal and an Olympic record in the men’s 4×400-meter relay at the Paris Games on Saturday night.
Benjamin added this Olympic title to the one he won the day before in the 400 meters hurdles and prevented the 200 meters champion Tebogo from giving Botswana another triumph over the Americans.
It was Tebogo, the 21-year-old sprinting sensation, who stole the show – and the gold – in the U.S. 200 meters on Thursday, relegating Kenny Bednarek to silver and Noah Lyleswho tested positive for COVID-19, bronze.
The American quartet of Christopher Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Benjamin completed the four laps in 2 minutes, 54.43 seconds, nearly a second slower than the U.S. 4×400 team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. And Saturday’s time was just 0.14 seconds off the world record set by the United States in 1993.
Botswana were a tenth of a second behind on Saturday, with Tebogo joined by Bayapo Ndori, Busang Collen Kebinatshipi and Anthony Pesela.
Great Britain finished third in 2:55.83.
Women heading for Olympic gold medal
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas teamed up for America’s 14th gold and 34th overall medal on the track Saturday, wrapping up Olympic action at the Stade de France with a time of 4.23 seconds in the women’s 4×400 relay.
The 400 hurdles and 200-meter gold medalists took control of the second and third legs for the United States, giving a 30-meter lead to Alexis Holmes, who did not lose any ground.
The United States finished in 3 minutes and 15.27 seconds, just 0.1 seconds off the world record.
