Carl Lewis outburst: US stars embarrass themselves in sprint season

Thursday 5 August 2021

Angry explosion of Carl Lewis
US stars embarrass themselves in sprint season

By Tobias Nordmann

When it comes to medals in sprint relays, the US is always the favourite, and usually the best. That’s the number of men (and women) who enjoy speed in the country. But this tank is sometimes not enough. At the Olympics, American boys present a strange spectacle.

This year, only 16 men were faster than Cravon Gillespie at the 100m. So if you claim that Cravon Gillespie is one of the fastest men in the world, that’s certainly not a particularly debatable thesis. But one thing is interesting: Of the 16 men who have been faster than the American this year, nine are also American. Which in turn means the 25-year-old is a top runner among many in his homeland. Among the best, but not among the best. They are selected in trials. Now Cravon Gillespie has been with that at the Olympics. As a man in the 4x100m relay race. In the semi-finals he was the last runner.

As the last man on his team, he ended what had become a national embarrassment. The American boys were only sixth in their careers. VI! The United States, that nation of great (often drugged) runners, has embarrassed itself. And it’s not just because of Gillespie, who started running home straight like he was dealing with the Devil and then slipped from second to third from last. He was even surpassed by Lucas forget him Bebra, the young German who saved his season with a furious finish to the Finals (over time). The pictures shown by the international director right after the race briefly dealt with the cheering of the Germans and the cheering of the Chinese. They surprisingly won the preliminary round.

The images shown by the international director dealt with stunned American boys. Embarrassing failed stars, serving the drama and voyeurism of the audience. The suffering of the runners was the suffering of the best. Because the Americans didn’t get away with their top staff in the semi-final round. Which usually happens over and over again. Trivon Brommel had handled the first 100 meters, passing the baton to Fred Curley, who had already won the silver in the sprint final. He was followed by Ronnie Baker, the fifth fastest man of the year. and finally Gillespie, who strangely stormed the place. But it was difficult for him, too. He was only allowed to hit the house in sixth place. Inconceivable for a season that has been superbly placed in the top three.

The drama began much earlier on the high-speed train Mundo. Brommel, who surprisingly failed in the singles semi-finals, has also struggled this season. At least the work of turning it over to Curley. Officially America’s Strongest Boy had put up a strong candid, but it was the tragic figure then. He ran near the baker. Then his hand searched for the stick in the wrong place. His hand was digging somewhere on his colleague’s neck. Curley grabbed Becker’s arm and pushed the most important item from the barrel into his hand. The important hundreds of hundreds were lost, and Becker was only able to speed up too late as he wanted. Surreal scene. American naivety, she was severely punished. It wasn’t the team with the fastest players that won the race, but the team that also worked as one.

Right arrogance towards competition

Questions have been asked. Lots of questions. The most frequent wording was as follows: How often did you train relay teams? “I don’t know,” Curley said. Not much, Becker said. Gillespie offered a terrifying explanation. They trained for two days. Other countries make the relay (successfully) a flag. Just trusting the quality of individual runners is real arrogance toward the competition. In the United States, embarrassment has become a huge problem.

The legend Carl Lewis, who himself won six Olympic golds in the sprint (100 meters, 200 meters and relay), was especially furious. “They did it all wrong. The deliveries were wrong, the order of the contestants was wrong, and there was no management structure,” he wrote on Twitter angrily. In fact, you have to wonder why the 100-meter Specialists Brommel and Becker had to run curves that required special technology. Curley, a specialist trained over 400m and Gillespie (more than 200m and 20sec on the road), could have contributed their experience more profitably.

Then Lewis added again, “America sits there and cheers you up and then you see the clown show,” the 60-year-old grumbled in an interview with “USA Today.” A proud enemy country, it leaves Tokyo without an Olympic victory at distances up to 400 metres. Even Curley’s silver in the over 100m and silver and bronze for Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles over the 200m are no consolation to both the disgruntled and resigned team.

Once upon a time, the season was firmly planned gold. By 2000, American boys had won the Olympic gold medal fifteen times, in 20 events. Nothing has worked since then. In 2004 there was silver, in 2008 Tyson Gay missed the final runner, in 2012 the silver was later withdrawn due to Gay’s doping offense. And in 2016, the relay was disqualified due to an alternate fault. Becker tried to justify the following disaster: “Trying to get perfect timing with some exercises is a bit difficult.” In fact, this is the tenth time since 1995 that a US season has conferred potential wins in major events. Either due to a lost stick, a doping violation, or an incorrect change. After all: at the last World Cup in Doha in 2019, there was gold. One with flavors, however. Because in the season Justin Gatlin and Christian Coleman ran with two characters shaded from the US sprint scene.