The 4×400-meter relay brought glory and history for American women, with three stars from the New York-New Jersey area helping Allyson Felix earn her 11th and final track medal to pass Carl Lewis for the most ever by an American athlete.
The 4×400 relay also brought relief to American men, who finally won their first track gold of the Tokyo Games to avoid the wrong kind of Olympic history.
A star-filled women’s team and a desperate men’s team won their respective 4×400-meter relays in Tokyo on Saturday, the final day of track competition and one that served as a coronation for Felix.
With the gold medal dangling from her neck and the “Star-Spangled Banner” playing in the near-empty stadium, “I took a moment just to close my eyes and take it in one last time,” said Felix, who was competing in her fifth and final Olympics.
The superstar, who became the all-time American women’s track leader in medals Friday when she won bronze in the 400 meters, broke Lewis’ mark while surrounded by local talent.
She got the baton from Sydney McLaughlin, the 22-year-old birthday girl out of Dunellen, N.J., who gave the Americans a slight lead that Felix held on to.
Felix passed off to Dalilah Muhammad, the 31-year-old out of Jamaica, Queens, and Cardozo High School, who pulled away from the competition. Athing Mu, from Trenton, kept extending the lead until it became a blowout, the Americans (3:16.85) winning by nearly four seconds over second-place Poland (3:20.53).
“For me, I just really came out at peace, and I wanted to soak it in completely,” the 35-year-old Felix told reporters. “I think this is a really special team because we’re not 400-meter runners — I don’t consider myself a 400-meter specialist. We all do different things, and it was really cool to come together to get to close out the Olympic Games and for me, my Olympic career in this way.”
Felix is a 200-meter specialist, McLaughlin and Muhammad are hurdlers and Mu an 800-meter runner. The four came together to hug after the race.
Of Felix’s 11 medals, seven are gold. She finished one shy of Finand’s Paavo Nurmi, who won his 12 medals in the 1920s, for the most ever in track.
“I’m truly just honored to be part of this team with [Felix], on her last Olympics,” Muhammad said. “We’re going to look back at this and think about how special this moment really was.”
The American 4×400-meter men’s team, meanwhile, ensured they didn’t make some embarrassing history.
Entering the event, the last on the track, American men had not won a gold. The U.S. had not been shut out like that in the Games’ 125-year history (apart from the 1980 boycott). Only shot-putter Ryan Crouser had won a gold for America in track and field.
The pressure was on, especially after Lewis called the 4×100-meter team a “total embarrassment” Wednesday after issues passing the baton cost them a shot at medaling.
All the transfers were clean Saturday from Michael Cherry, Michael Norman, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin, who ensured American men averted the ignominy by cruising to a pretty comfortable win in 2:55.70.
Cherry, who was born in New York and raised in Virginia, gave the Americans the edge and passed off to Norman, who kept the lead. Deadmon gained separation before handing off to Benjamin, who took it home for Team USA.
The Netherlands (2:57.18) earned silver and Botswana (2:57.27) bronze.
Benjamin, who attended Mount Vernon High School and finished second in the 400-meter hurdles, pounded his chest after he crossed the finish line.
“It was a whole lot of second places. Guys who were supposed to win got second. And guys who were supposed to medal didn’t medal,” the 24-year-old told reporters. “As athletes, we all put pressure on ourselves. No one comes here with the intention of losing. We all want to win, and that’s what we are here for. To be out here and to be able to actually win a gold medal for Team USA and for ourselves is amazing.”
It allows the men to exhale. Felix, though, has been breathtaking.
— With AP