After the close finish in the 100 metres between reigning World Champion
Noah Lyles and seasonal World Leader
Kishane Thompson, which Lyles won by .005, there was excitement for the rematch on the anchor leg of the 4 × 100 relay. USA were the most successful Olympic 4 × 100 team overall, winning the event all but 5 of 20 Olympics between 1912 and 2000. Jamaica had more recent success, winning 3 times in a row during the
Usain Bolt era, 2008-2016. This time, neither country was defending a medal, as Italy returned as the defending champion with one addition to their relay team, Canada as the silver medallists returning the same lineup, and China as the bronze after the disqualification of Tokyo 2020 second place finisher Great Britain. That was a repeat of USA's recent history of failures to live up to expectations in the 4 × 100. USA's 2016 "early" exchange was so egregious, a failure to execute rules every team has to adhere to from the junior level, that it caused a successful lobbying effort to make the technical rules for passing easier. Tracks all over the world had to be repainted to eliminate the acceleration zone leading to the beginning of the passing zone. Predictions expected USA to break their streak of futility with Jamaica and Italy as top contenders. Things changed when Lyles finished third in the 200 metres, without his fast finish. After hugging his competitors, Lyles said he had been diagnosed with
COVID-19 two days earlier and that he was dropping out of the relay. With substitutes, USA was the top qualifying team out of the heats. Jamaica shockingly failed to make the final. For the final, USA substituted
Kenny Bednarek onto the team for the final and completely changed the order. Great Britain, Italy and Japan made similar changes, while Canada, South Africa, China and France stuck with a well-practiced order. With the best starter in the world, multiple World Indoor Champion
Christian Coleman (USA) blasted out of the blocks, making up a huge amount of the stagger on
Méba-Mickaël Zeze (FRA) to his outside, while leaving
Jeremiah Azu (GBR) behind. On the far outside,
Aaron Brown (CAN) was also pulling away from
Deng Zhijian (CHN) while 18 year old
Bayanda Walaza (RSA) was gaining behind Deng. At the first exchange, USA's Bednarek almost came to a complete stop trying to complete the handoff, Great Britain's
Louie Hinchliffe whizzed by with Japan's star
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown gaining.
Jerome Blake (CAN) continued to widen the gap on China's star
Xie Zhenye with South Africa's
Shaun Maswanganyi gaining behind. Around the final turn, former World Junior Record holder
Yoshihide Kiryū (JPN) zoomed past everybody, so as the teams evened out after the excellent underhand exchange to
Koki Ueyama, Japan was ahead. A fast turn on the inside by
Lorenzo Patta brought Italy about even with Canada's
Brendon Rodney. After the handoffs,
Akani Simbine (RSA) and
Pablo Matéo (FRA) were even, marginally ahead of
Zharnel Hughes (GBR) 3 metres down on Ueyama,
Filippo Tortu (ITA) and six-time Olympic medalist
Andre De Grasse (CAN). De Grasse and Tortu quickly picked off Ueyama but down the stretch Simbine and Hughes were closing fast, passing Ueyama metres out and Tortu less than 20. Simbine maintained the slight edge on Hughes to give South Africa the silver over Great Britain's bronze, but not enough to catch De Grasse for gold. The vaunted American squad crossed the line in seventh only to learn that they had been disqualified. Bednarek had left way too early, then tried to stop and the exchange from Coleman was out of the passing zone. For the Great Britain team, the bronze medal represented a redemption of sorts, as the three members of the team who had lost their silver medals when their teammate
CJ Ujah tested positive for illicit drugs, after the
2020 final -
Zharnel Hughes,
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and
Richard Kilty - all returned three years later to reclaim an Olympic medal. It was a seventh Olympic medal for De Grasse and a new African Record for the South African squad. Canada's gold was their third Olympic medal in a row, after bronze in 2016 and silver in 2020. == Background ==