Baton bungle forces USA to call for review

The United States will conduct a post-mortem into a disappointing athletics performance that has seen US sprinters...

The United States will conduct a post-mortem into a disappointing athletics performance that has seen US sprinters eclipsed by their Jamaican rivals, the chief executive officer of USA Track & Field said.

“Once the Games are complete we will be conducting a comprehensive review of all our programmes,” Doug Logan said in a statement.

A miserable Games for a team that billed itself the world’s best was highlighted by relay botches by both the men’s and women’s 4×100 metres teams on Thursday night.

“I am extremely disappointed with the performance of our relays,” Logan said, after the US men’s and women’s 4×100 teams dropped batons in Thursday’s opening relay rounds.

Logan said the review would be comprehensive, looking at all USA Track & Field’s high performance programmes.

One subject to be addressed, he said, “would be the way in which we select, train and coach our relays.”

In remarks posted on his blog, titled Shin Splints, Logan added the poor relay performance reflected a lack of preparation.

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“These are professional athletes who are the best in their field, and anybody who ever ran a high school relay cringes when that baton hits the track,” he said.