Jeremy Wariner anchors the US 4x400m team to gold in Osaka (© Getty Images)
With a handful of exceptions since the event was first contested in the 1912 Games in Stockholm, quartets from the U.S.A have owned the 4x400m Relay. There’s no indication whatsoever that their dominance won’t continue in Beijing.
A year ago in Osaka, a U.S. squad, with 400m silver medallist LaShawn Merritt as the lead-off and 400m champion Jeremy Wariner as anchor, ran away with the title in 2:55.56, winning by more than three-and-a-half seconds over runner-up, The Bahamas, and Poland, who upset Jamaica for the bronze. Again this year, these four squads will likely be gunning for the medals.
But all eyes will be on the Americans. Wariner and Merritt will be back, and with the deepest pool of talent on the planet – indeed, the U.S. 400m Hurdles squad are world class flat 400m runners – any conceivable combination could race to gold.
Four years ago in Athens, the American team – with freshly minted 400m champion Wariner running the third leg – missed the Olympic record by just 0.17 seconds. This time around, that 2:55.74 mark from 1992, the fourth fastest in history, will certainly be under threat.
With both national record holder Chris Brown (44.40) and NCAA champion Andretti Bain (44.62) arriving in Beijing as podium threats, the Bahamians appear primed to repeat their Osaka finish as well as improve considerably upon their sixth place showing in Athens.
Likewise Jamaica, a fairly regular visitor to the Olympic podium since 1988, will be looking to bounce back not only from their Osaka disappointment, but from their first round disqualification in Athens as well.
Despite the absence of major 400m ‘stars’ both Poland and Russia are often competitive in major championships and both have a fairly wide pool from which to choose. But they’ll have to be on the lookout for a rising squad from Trinidad & Tobago. With Renny Quow (44.89) and Ato Stephens (45.01) to perform a solid backbone, the squad certainly looks capable to singnificantly improve on the 3:02.92 from Osaka which helped them earn an invitation to possible return to the Olympic podium for the third time.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
