The Olympic 4×400-meter relay saw the United States maintain their dominant lead on Saturday, but only just as Britain secured third place after Rai Benjamin, an individual gold champion, defeated Letsile Tebogo of Botswana in an exciting last leg match.
After struggling severely in the heats, 16-year-old Quincy Wilson was dropped by the United States, but 400-meter hurdles champion Benjamin was added to run the final leg instead of individual 400-meter winner Quincy Hall.
Chris Bailey eliminated them, but he lost third place to Vernon Norwood, who led Bryce Deadmon from the start with a stormer in the heats and a repeat of it in the final.
Anthony Pesela of Botswana, though, narrowed the margin to set up an exciting finish.
Benjamin appeared to be in the final straight when Tebogo, the 200-meter champion who was substituted at the last minute to run the first leg for Botswana in the heats on Friday, sat on his shoulder.
But Benjamin’s one-lap speed endurance paid off, as he managed to hold him off and won in a time that set an Olympic record of two minutes, 54.43.
Britain claimed bronze in a European record 2:55.83, while Botswana, the bronze medallists in Tokyo, took silver in an African record 2:54.53.
The level of the race was so good that national records were set by South Africa in fifth place and Belgium in fourth, while an Asian record was set by Japan in sixth.
In contrast to the sprint relay, where they were eliminated once more in Friday’s final and have not won the championship since 2000, the Americans’ impressive 19th gold in the event included medals from nine of the previous 11 Games.
After collecting his second gold in a day, Benjamin was ecstatic. “I believe that throughout the Olympics, we were a cohesive team that thrived off one another’s enthusiasm,” he remarked.
Despite being the only country to win the Olympic 4x400m gold medal twice (1920 and 1936), Britain remains a distant second in the history standings with 12 medals overall. However, their lead-off man, Alex Haydock-Wilson, stated that they were targeting the United States.
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