Sha’Carri Richardson exhibited immense pride as she crossed the finish line of the sprint, glancing sideways at her competitors and emphatically planting her foot after her strides. Richardson herself had claimed silver in the 100 meter only days prior. Then, in the final 4x100m, she heroically overtook several other runners on the final leg to uplift the United States to victory. “I was comfortable with these ladies,” Richardson told ABC News after clinching victory.

The USA women won in 41.78 seconds, defeating Britain with a 0.07-second lead, and major credit goes to Richardson as she pulled the team up from the third position. The victory became all the more dear to the nation when in the next race the US men struggled in the same event finishing seventh and later facing a disqualification for illegal baton pass-off. Amid all these, Sha’Carri’s effort caught the attention of NFL legend Shannon Sharpe, as he showered praise on the sprinter.

On his podcast Nightcap, Shannon Shape commented, “Sha’Carri did what Sha’Carri was supposed to do right. Track down everybody she got the Baton and fourth and as long as it was close she coming to get you. Because it didn’t matter who they had,” appreciating the sprinter. Sharpe noted how she effortlessly closed the gap and overtook competitors, even from a less favorable position, stating, “I wasn’t really concerned about anybody else.” Interestingly, Sharpe’s comment indicated that one factor might have played as a crucial factor.

Reflecting on the depth of the competition, Sharpe said, “I knew Germany or anybody else didn’t stand a chance,” especially without the Jamaican team in the field. Notably, in the Tokyo Olympics the Jamaican Quartet of Briana Williams, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Shericka Jackson defeated the USA with a time of 41.02s. Apart from Sha’Carri’s performance, Sharpe did not miss her attitude either.

Sha’Carri Richardson has her signature style of starting her celebration even before she finishes the race. While many critics have often noted that this might hamper the time she clocks, it is undoubtedly an indication of her confidence. Referring to her intense gaze during the relay final while still in motion, Sharpe laughed as he exaggerated her competitive spirit, saying, “If you look at her, you’d think, ‘Bye girl, stop playing.’” He agreed with Chad Ochocinco Johnson’s observation of Richardson’s intense gaze at the camera, calling it ‘unbelievable.’

Sha’Carri’s work might actually look incredible if we take a look at both the qualifying round and the finals a bit carefully. It will tell us that she was instrumental, not once, but twice.

First, let’s look at the qualifiers. There was a near debacle there in the baton exchange. Gabby Thomas, who was in the third leg, almost misconnected while receiving the baton from Twanisha Terry. When She handed over the baton to Sha’Carri for the anchor leg, the latter was three steps behind German runner Rebekka Haase. But the reigning world champion did justice to her name to close off the gap eventually taking the team to the final clocking 41.94 seconds, .19 ahead of Germany. Now come to the final.

The problem of baton exchange troubled the team here as well. In the first leg, Melissa Jefferson after running split of 11.46s and handed off the baton clean to Twanisha Terry. Terry upped the momentum with the only sub-10 split of 9.99s. But while taking the baton from her, Gabby Thomas took a little more time than she was supposed to. After a split of 10.25, Gabby’s handover to Sha’Carri was again shaky.

But by the halfway of her split, Sha’Carri had crossed Britain and Germany. She then took a gaze to them, took eight bold steps, and crossed the finish line on her ninth step with a split of 10.09. A loud roar from her announced the USA’s victory.

Interestingly, after the race, it seemed that Sha’Carri was never in doubt about the win. “I just remember trusting Gabby and knowing that she’s going to put this thing in my hand no matter what. And to leave my best on the track,” she said. Looking at all these, Shannon Sharpe could not emphasize more the importance of execution.

“We always have the most horsepower but the problem is it doesn’t matter how much horsepower you have. If the driver can’t drive the car,” Sharpe noted. Team Britain might be taken as an instance. the team had an excellent start riding on the performances of Dina Asher-Smith, Imani Lansiquot, and Amy Hunt. It put Britain in the leading position. But Hunt struggled to hand over the baton to Daryll Neita, only to give Sha’Carri the channel she needed. Sharpe’s statement also very aptly applies to the US men’s relay team as well.

USA men’s relay team could not further Sha’Carri Richardson’s triumph

The Men’s relay team faced a setback even before they set their foot on the tracks as Noah Lyles was out with COVID-19. Despite that, the quartet of Christian Coleman, Kenny Bednarek, Kyree King, and Fred Kerley had ample potential to pull off the race, especially in the absence of Jamaica. But a botched baton handover after the first leg took the race away from the USA in the very beginning.

Coleman started his job well. In the opening leg he ran the 100m with a blistering 9.86 seconds, which is the fastest first leg in history. He surpassed Usain Bolt’s record of 9.92s set in Berlin in 2009. But his passing the baton to Kenny Bednarek put cold water on his efforts. The baton transfer is supposed to take place while both runners are in motion. But Kenny was so slow that he almost stopped as a result of which Coleman almost crashed onto his back.

For a relay such a fiasco is unbridgeable. And the USA understood that bitterly. Kyree King, who came in for Noah Lyles, ran a decent third leg. Kerley, the 100-meter silver medalist as the anchor ran a blazing 8.79-second. But that was too late for the team only to get a disappointing seventh place. That doubled up when they were disqualified for exchanging the baton outside the exchange zone.

It marked the fifth consecutive Olympics in which the United States missed the podium. the country has not won a medal in the men’s 4×100 relay since 2004, when Shawn Crawford, Justin Gatlin, Coby Miller, and Maurice Greene won silver in Athens. Alongside, it has also not won gold since 2000 after Jon Drummond, Bernard Williams, Brian Lewis, and Greene. However, before the spell, Team USA won this event 15 times, which is 13 more times than any other nation. But there is one more grave area of concern.

It once again brought up the US’s historic struggle with baton exchanges. according to Reuters, it now has 11 dropped batons, disqualifications, or bans in the Olympics and World Championships since 1995. Looking at that 9x Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis could not hide his outrage.

“It’s time to blow up the system. It is clear that EVERYONE at (USA Track & Field) is more concerned with relationships than winning. No athlete should step on the track and run another relay until this program is changed from top to bottom,” a furious Lewis wrote on X. However, Coleman tried to be optimistic. He expressed hope that they will come back for LA28 to “to bring it on home”. But the debacle has raised serious questions about that claim. What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments.