Seeing the U.S. men bumble through another 4×100-meter Olympic final was difficult enough for any fan of the domestic track and field program. But it was downright infuriating for someone who’s taken multiple turns on the biggest stage and succeeded — four-time Olympian Carl Lewis.
Now 63 years old, Lewis was a 10-time medalist across four Olympics from 1984 to 1996, including relay golds in the 4×100 at Los Angeles and Barcelona. American teams won seven golds and a silver in the event from 1964 to 2000, but a silver at Athens in 2004 was the last trip to the podium before what’s now become a 20-year medal drought.
And if it weren’t bad enough that the medals have stopped coming, it’s even worse that they’ve dried up by the most agonizing of means, including baton-pass botches in 2008, 2016 and 2020. The same thing happened again on Friday, when Kenny Bednarek got too big a head start before taking the initial pass from Christian Coleman, instantly slowing the exchange and taking the U.S. out of contention before being hit with a disqualification after anchorman Fred Kerley hit the line in seventh place.
Kyree King, who ran the third leg, was filling in after dual-medalist Noah Lyles went public with a COVID-19 diagnosis and said he’d withdraw from the relay. But rather than simply plugging the new runner Lyles’ anchor spot, the entire lineup was shuffled, perhaps leading to the botch in the final.
Lewis was there at the track, and NBC cameras caught his visible frustration. It didn’t stop there, though, as the angst boiled over into a subsequent social media post, in which he suggested systemic changes were needed at USA Track and Field, the sport’s domestic governing body.
“It is time to blow up the system,” Lewis said on X (formerly Twitter). “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.”