Caribbean Olympics Coverage 2008 Blog

Jamaica’s men’s 4×100 relay team eased into the finals after qualifying today and saw their major rival the USA team drop their baton during the Darvis Patton to Tyson Gay exchange and the team from Trinidad finished with a 0.05 edge over Jamaica in their heat. The women also eased into the finals with a commanding lead and also saw the USA drop the baton in the Torri Edwards to Lauryn Williams exchange. Truth be told only the Jamaican team is capable of defeating themselves at this point after dominating the 100m and 200m sprint events for both men and women claiming the gold medal in all four events.

Looking to the 4×100 relay finals tomorrow arguably the most exciting event, there is speculation of two more shattered records. The men finished with a time of 38.31 without Usain Bolt who was getting some much needed rest for the finals. The women clocked in at 42.24 fast right?

Well here is the juicy part the world record for the men’s relay is 37.40 which means that team Jamaica without Usain Bolt was just 0.91 seconds away from breaking the world record and with the women’s 4×100 relay record standing at 41.37 our ladies were 0.87 away from breaking the world record. The men’s record is held by Team USA originally set in Barcelona by Michael Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell, Carl Lewis in 1992. The women’s record held by East Germany set in 1985 by Silke Gladisch, Sabine Rieger, Ingrid Auerswald, Marlies Göhr.

Jamaica I would say is poised to put the ‘icing on the cake’ if all goes well with our baton exchanges then Jamaica’s name will be written in Olympic history for a long time. And the names of our champions will be freshly remembered.

If you are worried about Asafa Powell as many of you with short memories might be take a look at this clip from Osaka 2007 World Championships 4X100m Relay Final, after Bolt and Frater had a messy exchange it was Powell who cleaned up.