As the Olympics wind down, the track and field portion had one last hoorah to give us tonight.  In a week full of records, heartaches, and unimpressive medaling, the US and Jamaica 4x100 M relay teams put on one of the greatest races in the history of the sport.

Usain Bolt's accolades are well known.  This week he became the first man to ever win double gold in the 100 Meter and 200 Meter runs in back to back Olympics.  He owns the world record in both events, was on the Jamaican 4x100 M relay team that won gold in '08 and owns a share of that world record as well.

Lost behind have been the US relay team whom dropped the baton in the semi-finals in '08 and were disqualified.  Forgotten was Justin Gatlin, who won gold in the '04 100 M Olympic final.  Nobody was talking about Tyson Gay, who is the American Record holder in the 100 M. Trell Kimmons and Ryan Bailey are far from household names.  However, quartet was looking like the top dogs since the Olympics have opened up.  Gatlin took bronze in the 100 M final behind Bolt and Jamaican, Yohan Blake.  Gay finished fourth, just .01 of a second from the podium. In the semi-finals, the US team broke the American record, without Gay running, in a blazing fast time of 37.38 seconds.  The talk tonight was that the showdown with Jamaica would be something special.

The US team started off with an early lead, helped by an impressive second leg by Gatlin, who has had the fastest American time this year.  When he safely put the baton in the hands of Tyson Gay, the second fastest man in history, up crept Yohan Blake.  Blake made up massive ground was neck and neck with Gay.  US anchor, Bailey, went head to head with the legend of Bolt.  In somewhat of an unfair anchor leg, Usain Bolt shut the door on the American team.  If you check the video, you can see how Bolt just ate up the last leg of the race on the way to a new world record of 36.84 seconds.  The US clocked in at 37.04 seconds. None the less, both teams bested the old world record at the same time.  In the same night, we saw the two fastest 4x100 M relay runs in history, with four of the fastest men in the entire sport - and the US came up just blinks of an eye short of gold.

Did you watch the race?  How about you, do you think it's the greatest race in Olympic history?

 

 

 

 

 

More From Q 105.7