Team USA were still favourites without their star man

ATHLETICS legends Michael Johnson and Carl Lewis slammed Team USA after they were disqualified from the men’s 4x100m relay.

The Americans had a nightmare in Paris as their relay gold medal drought extended to 20 years.

A nightmare changeover from the United States in the men’s 4x100m relay 😳#BBCOlympics #Paris2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/pEDNryf5Rz

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 9, 2024

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Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek messed up the baton exchangeCredit: AP

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Michael Johnson called USA’s relay flop ‘laughable’Credit: BBC

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Carl Lewis fumed on social mediaCredit: AFP
Last night, they were disqualified for an illegal pass they made in the first change over as Canada got gold, South Africa took home silver and Team GB bronze.

USA got it all wrong as Christian Coleman crashed into team-mate Kenny Bednarek to mess up the first baton pass, forcing the exchange to happen outside the legal zone.

BBC pundit Johnson raged: “It’s laughable at this point.

“The last time we won it at the Olympics I was still competing.”

Meanwhile, Lewis tweeted: “It’s time to blow up the system.

“It is clear that EVERYONE at is more concerned with relationships than winning. No athlete should step on the track and run another relay until this program is changed from top to bottom.”

USA last won gold in the men’s 4x100m relay at Sydney 2000.

Since then it has been a disaster every four years, starting with a poor baton exchange costing them gold at Athens 2004.

They then dropped it in Beijing 2008 and were disqualified for doping at London 2012.

Another poor pass saw them punished in Rio 2016 and a similar incident led to them not even reaching the final at Tokyo 2020.

But they were all set to make amends in Paris – even without 100m winner Noah Lyles after he tested positive for Covid.

Post-race, Coleman said: “We practised a lot. Me and Kenny have been on the team a few times and we felt really confident going out there.

“It’s part of the sport. We wanted to do it, we wanted to bring it home, we knew we had the speed to do it but this is a risk-reward type of thing.

“All of us are world class, and I expect all of us will be back on the team in LA.

“I think on home soil, we’ll be able to have the confidence to bring it on home.”