By Scott Cacciola and Matt Futterman
TOKYO — Allyson Felix has won her 11th Olympic medal, making her the most decorated American Olympian in track and field, surpassing the 10 medals won by Carl Lewis.
Track
and
Field:
Women’s
4×400m
Relay
›
Gold
Silver
Bronze
A stacked team of Sydney McLaughlin, Felix, Dalilah Muhammad and Athing Mu won the gold medal on Saturday night in the 4×400-meter relay, continuing an American winning streak in the event that has been unbroken since 1996.
The American team was full of luminaries, present and future. McLaughlin, who turned 22 on Saturday, and Muhammad, 31, joined forces after going head-to-head this week in the final of the 400-meter hurdles, a classic race in which McLaughlin edged Muhammad at the line to break her own world record. Mu, a 19-year-old phenomenon from New Jersey, had won the 800 meters with a dominant performance days before.
And there was Felix, of course, the grande dame of United States track and field, just one day removed from winning the bronze in the 400 meters. Felix, 35, has said that these will be her final Olympics, and she ensured that they were memorable.
Track
and
Field:
Women’s
4×400m
Relay
Final
›
Time
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Men’s 4×400 relay
The American men followed suit by winning their 4×400-meter race.
The performance came two days after the Americans failed to make the final of the 4×100 relay race thanks to a flubbed baton pass. A loss in the 4×400 would have been a one-two punch of disappointment, given the unmatched depth that the United States has long had in sprinting.
The Americans were the defending champions in the event and had won it at eight of the last 10 Olympic Games. Saturday night’s win made that nine out of 11.
The U.S. team included two of the top five finishers in the individual 400-meter race, Michael Cherry and Michael Norman, and the second-place finisher in the 400-meter hurdles, Rai Benjamin.
Norman put the Americans in the lead on the second leg. Bryce Deadmon stretched it to five meters, and Benjamin carried it home for a 1.48-second win over the Netherlands. Botswana took the bronze.
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