Fred Kerley would probably never ever forget the Paris Olympics. Not just for its highs, but also for its lows. The athlete who arrived as the reigning silver medalist at the 100m category knew it would be hard to replicate that considering the improvement of the standard of the competition as both Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson were in top form. But Kerley still managed to get a place on the podium with the bronze medal. The lows of the competition came after that.

He was set to compete in the 4x100m relay next, aiming to finally win a gold medal in his career. It seemed like an achievable goal, as Team USA was considered the favorite. However, during the finals, the team was disqualified due to an out-of-bounds baton exchange. What seemed like a sure-shot gold medal opportunity ended with the team leaving empty-handed. Now, Fred Kerley has finally opened up about the experience on a podcast.

Fred Kerley opens up about the mishap in the 4x100m relay and shoulders blame

During the Ready Set Go podcast with Justin Gatlin and Rodney Green, Fred Kerley talked about the unfortunate disqualification the 4×100-meter team faced at the Paris Olympics. The track star refused to blame anybody except the athletes who couldn’t give the ball in the right way. He believed that the coaches put the right team in place to win the gold, but they couldn’t put in the desired performance. “That’s the only thing I really can say. We did give a gold medal away in that relay, and we take full responsibility, but the curse is going to be over soon, you know what I’m saying?”

The ‘curse’ he’s referring to is the U.S. team’s inability to secure a medal in the 4x100m relay since they won silver in Athens in 2004. Twenty years have passed, and the drought continued in Paris. However, Kerley remarked that even if they eventually break the curse, there wouldn’t be much celebration. According to him, people enjoy seeing the U.S. team falter, as it makes for more captivating headlines.

But the athlete believes they’ll break the unfortunate streak in LA. “I feel like the world’s going to be shocked, and when we win, there won’t be any more new articles available. They’re going to be like, they’re not even probably going to praise us because we’re supposed to have been doing that a long time ago from back in the day, you know what I’m saying? So, it’s just like we take full responsibility for our mistakes, but yeah, we run fast in the preliminary, but the preliminary doesn’t count.” It seems like the athlete is ready to forget the whole 4×100 situation. But it seems like the disaster may not be only the athlete’s fault after all.

Who is to blame for the unfortunate incident at the 4x100m relay?

The US 4x100m relay team had a great start to its Paris Olympics campaign. They finished the first round in first place with a time of 37.47 seconds with decent chemistry in a team of Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, Kyree King, and Courtney Lindsey. Thus, they seemed to be in pole position to win the gold medal when the final arrived. They also had Noah Lyles entering the team in the finals, which would have given them a huge boost. However, things started quickly tumbling down after that.

Noah was found positive for COVID-19, which ruled him out of the race. Instead, the coaches decided to replace Courtney Lindsey with Kenny Bednarek. But what seemed like a blunder on the part of the coaches was the fact that they changed the order of the team instead of going for a like-for-like replacement. While Coleman stayed at leadoff, Bednarek was put in the second leg, with King at the third leg and Fred Kerley at anchor.

This breakdown in team chemistry led to the mishap. Bednarek accelerated too early, causing the handoff from Coleman to occur out of the exchange zone, resulting in the U.S. team’s disqualification. Their 20-year hunt for a medal in this category remained unsuccessful. Had the coaches stuck with the original lineup, the outcome might have been different, potentially securing a medal. While the athletes bear some responsibility, it’s clear that they aren’t solely to blame for the unfortunate situation.