Despite everyone downplaying their chances, the Canadian 4×100 relay team has done the unexpected by winning gold at Paris 2024. The quartet of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney, and Andre De Grasse entered the finals of 4×100 with not-so-big expectations due to the injury of their star man, De Grasse, but fate had other ideas on the day of finals.
Although their performance on the day of the final wasn’t perfect, with Brown and Blake fumbling, their star anchor, De Grasse, made a game-changing move with a blazing dash through his leg in 8.89 seconds to clinch gold. South Africa (37.57) came in second, and Great Britain (37.61) came in third as the Canadian team recorded 37.50 seconds to win the gold.
CANADA, that's who. 🥇🇨🇦 Our Chef de mission Bruny Surin, has always believed. #TeamCanada pic.twitter.com/IaUuzZwseW
— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) August 10, 2024
De Grasse told CBC.
“It feels pretty amazing. To be out with these guys, my brothers, I’ve been with them since the beginning of time, so it’s amazing,” “We talked about this moment for years. It feels good to bring it to fruition. I’m super grateful.”
With this gold, Canada won its second gold medal after the success of 1996, but it has more significance for the country now than anything else, given the circumstances. As the Canadian quartet arrived with hopes of making their Tokyo silver into gold, there were clouds over their destiny as Andre De Grasse was suffering from a hamstring injury, so he wasn’t even able to make it to the finals of his 100m, and 200m heats due to his injury.
New Low for the USA at Paris 2024
Despite the odds, Canadian stars shine above all others, but a luck factor was also involved. The hot favorites USA, were disqualified after botched changeovers, which changed the dynamics of the whole race.
The history of the USA losing batons has continued to haunt them as the team has dropped 13 batons in this team relay and extended their drought in the 4×100 relay to more than 24 years now.
In response to the embarrassing disqualification, Carl Lewis, a former American sprinting great, spoke with CBC:
“It is time to blow up the system. This continues to be completely unacceptable,”
“It is clear that EVERYONE at USATF is more concerned with relationships than winning. No athlete should run another relay on the track until this program is changed from top to bottom.”
Furthermore, this win has placed Andre De Grasse in a tie with swimming star Penny Oleksiak as the most decorated player at the Olympics, with seven medals (two gold, two silver, three bronze) won during the games.
Click HERE for the Medal Tally
