Even without 100-meter gold medalist Noah Lyles, who sat out the relay after contracting COVID-19, the Americans had more than enough firepower to win.
All they needed to do was smoothly move the baton around the track.
That’s been a tall order in recent Summer Games.
The U.S. had baton issues while finishing sixth in a preliminary heat in the 2021 Games and didn’t make the final. In 2016 they were plagued by an illegal handoff. In 2008 they dropped the baton in the first round.
It was the kind of history the Americans certainly didn’t want to repeat in Paris.
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