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The U.S. team featured two of the individual 100m finalists,
Fred Kerley and Ronnie Baker, the world leader Trayvon Bromell,
and Cravon Gillespie, who also ran the heats en route to their
2019 world championship-winning title.
But, despite the depth of talent on show, the changeovers were
poor and a shocking second handover saw them lose all momentum.
Anchor Gillespie, a controversial inclusion ahead of Kenny
Bednarek or Noah Lyles, made no impression in a mass finish,
with China the surprise heat winners in 37.92.
Canada, brought home by 200m champion Andre de Grasse, were
second, two thousandths of a second behind, and Italy, helped by
newly-crowned individual 100m champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs,
posted a national record 37.95 to also advance.
Germany (38.06) and Ghana (38.08) also finished ahead of the
Americans (38.10) to take the two fastest losers' slots in
Friday's final.
Jamaica led the way in the other semi, qualifying fastest in
37.82, ahead of Britain (38.02) and Japan (38.16).
After dominating the event for decades, winning at a remarkable
15 of the 18 Olympics they entered from 1920 to 2000, a
succession of disqualifications and setbacks have contributed to
the U.S. failing to win gold since.
In 2004 they were edged on the line by Britain, while they
dropped the baton in 2008. They finished second again in 2012,
only to be stripped of the medal due to Tyson Gay's doping
positive, and were disqualified again for a changeover offence
after finishing third in 2016.
With a series of similar failures in the world championships it
adds up to a long tale of woe. It is also another setback for
the men's team of the sport's traditionally most powerful nation
at Tokyo, where they have struggled to make anything like their
usual impact.
Carl Lewis, who helped the U.S. to two Olympic and three world
sprint relay golds, was one of many to take to social media to
share his disappointment. "The USA team did everything wrong in
the men's relay," Lewis tweeted.
"The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs,
and it was clear that there was no leadership. It was a total
embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to
look worse than the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) kids I saw."
(This story corrects full name of AAU to Amateur Athletic Union,
not American Association of Universities, in final paragraph)
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, additional reporting by Gene
Gerry, Editing by Peter Rutherford & Shri Navaratnam)
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