Canadian Men Claim Coveted 4 x 100 Metre Relay Gold at Paris Olympics
We were glued to Olympic coverage when the starter’s pistol sounded at the Paris Olympics on August 9th at the Stade de France and Aaron Brown shot out of the blocks for the Canadian men’s 4 x 100 metre relay team. For those of us who love track and field and especially those who adore sprinting, the 4 x 100 metre relay has a special place in our hearts. In a realm in which most events are about individual glory, the relays (whether 4 x 100 or 4 x 400) bring together four athletes all competing for national, not just personal glory. The current men’s Olympic record for the 4 x 100 metre relay, held by Jamaica of course, is 36.84 seconds and was set by Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, and the Usain Bolt at the Olympics hosted in London in 2012.
To fathom how such a time is possible, you have to consider not merely the sheer speed of each individual athlete, but the technical skill and precision with which they pass the baton to each other a total of three times during the race. What do we mean? Well, after the first runner completes his 100-metre run, he must pass the baton to the second member of his team (and so on, until the fourth runner has finished the race). But the passes must be made within a 20-metre zone for the team to remain in the race. A bad pass (exchanging the baton a step too early or too late) results in a disqualification and there are no do overs!
The Canadian men’s team comprised of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney, and Andre De Grasse shocked many, racing around the distinctive purple Parisian track, dampened by rain, in an amazing 37.50 seconds. Notably, all of these superstar Canadian athletes share Caribbean ancestry, three of them Jamaican! If you were shocked by this result, you probably haven’t been paying attention. This is almost the exact same team that won silver in Tokyo in 2020 and bronze in Rio in 2016, with the exception of Akeem Haynes instead of Jerome Blake in 2016.
If you had the misfortune of watching American Olympic coverage, you would be forgiven if you didn’t know that the Canadians had taken to the track at all. As usual, the deliberately hyper-focussed NBC coverage featured extreme camera close-ups on American athletes and talk about their individual prowess and seemingly cursed history with failed baton passing and disqualifications. But while the teams from South Africa and Great Britain (who got silver and bronze respectively in Paris) and the Italians (who took home gold in 2020 from Tokyo) were mentioned, the steadfast Canadians were never even discussed by track-legends-turned-commentators Aton Boldon or Sanya Richards-Ross as a threat to the Americans in medal contention. Instead, their pre-race setup turned to the American men’s relay drought; 20 years since they have medalled and 24 since they have won.
But boy did the Canadian men prove them (and a host of others) wrong! Although way out in lane 9 – a lane that no team wants because you can’t see your competitors and measure your progress until the final legs of the race – our men made their way around the track with near flawless baton passing. As Brown stated after the race, “These guys can do incredible things when we put our minds to it and it showed today. Never count us out, no matter what lane. We can be in (lane) two, we can be in nine, we can be in the stands, it doesn’t matter…These guys can make magic together.” And indeed they did as each man did his job, maintaining some portion of the stagger with power and speed as the race progressed. So, when Rodney who ran the third leg made the final pass to De Grasse running the fourth and final leg, all that was left for De Grasse was to do what De Grasse does, which is close out the race. Boom – gold!
Adding to Canadian track prowess was Canada’s Marco Arop who claimed a stunning silver in the men’s 800 metre final missing the gold by an almost immeasurable 1-100th of a second. The twenty-five-year-old Edmontonian also set a Canadian record in the process, crossing the finish line in 1:41:20!
But we also have to give a shout out to three outstanding African-Caribbean women who rocked Paris with their thrilling performances: Julien Alfred whose 10.72 second win in the 100 metre made her St. Lucia’s first ever Olympic medalist, Thea Lafond of Dominica who won the women’s triple jump, and Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic for her commanding 400 metre victory finishing in 48.17 seconds and making her that nation’s first female gold medalist!
We’d like to thank these track and field athletes and all of their dedicated fellow Olympians for their brilliant performances in Paris. We can’t wait for Los Angeles in 2028!
