Storyline: Déjà vu. Oh, Canada!
“Most action is based on redemption and revenge, and that’s a formula.”
Flashback to London at the 2012 Olympic Games. Team Canada is in Lane 5 of the Men’s 4x100m Finals. Gavin Smellie is starting. Oluseyi Smith runs the longest leg. Jared Connaughton takes the curve at third. Justyn Warner runs the anchor leg.
Jamaica, with superhuman Usain Bolt crushing the World Record with a time of 36.84 seconds, won Gold. The Americans were second in 37.04 which, by the way, equaled the Jamaicans’ previous World Record. And Canada finished third with a time of 37.89. Trinidad and Tobago clocked in at 38.12, finishing 4th.
Team Canada’s ecstatic, adrenaline-pumping, and electric celebration included Warner beginning a victory lap before about 80,000 fans at the packed Olympic Stadium.
Courtesy: nationalpost.com
Then, suddenly, the celebration turned into sadness, anger, and disbelief. Canada was disqualified. Jared Connaughton made a crucial mistake during the third leg. He stepped on the line of the curve before handing the baton off to Warner.
The medals and ranking were stripped from Team Canada. Trinidad and Tobago moved up from 4th to Bronze.
Although Athletics Canada immediately appealed the ruling–arguing that Connaughton gained no competitive advantage for having stepped on the line–the appeal was denied quickly.
Connaughton was heart-broken, alongside the rest of his team, but he stayed composed and classy about the incident. “Yeah, it was my fault,” Connaughton said in the interview area of the massive stadium. “It was a great race. When I looked up on the screen, I saw the replay and I could see that I stepped on the line. It’s pretty unforgivable. I’m sad and sorry for my teammates. And it’s sad to have happened like this.”
Warner, who ran an amazing final leg said: “We ran a great race and we did everything. This is unfortunate. It sucks.” No one was mad at or alienated Connaughton for his mistake.
Canadians didn’t hate Connaughton either. They were proud of the run and the way these men represented Canada. The proved that short sprints have a place in Canada. And Canada’s sprint future seemed bright, not experienced since 1996 when Canadian sprinter, Donovan Bailey, ruled the world.
Fast-forward to the Rio Olympics in Rio. It’s Friday night, August 19th, 2016.
Courtesy: durhamregion.com
This Canadian relay team has all new faces. In Lane 2 it’s Akeem Haynes, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, and anchor, Andre De Grasse.
De Grasse had become a superstar at just 21. He medalled in both the 100m (Bronze) and 200m (Silver), primed to become “the new face of short sprints” after Usain Bold, the fastest man in the world, retires.
But, just as in 2012, Usain Bolt led Jamaica to its third consecutive Olympic Gold in the men’s 4×100-metre relay, winning his 9th Gold medal. Jamaica finished with a time of 37.27 seconds, followed by Japan in an Asian-record of 37.60 and, then, the United States in third at 37.62.
Canada finished 4th thanks to a strong finish by de Grasse. And it looked as though de Grasse could have reeled in Japan and USA if he had a few more metres to run. But that wasn’t the case.
“It kind of hurts right now. This one is pretty tough,” De Grasse said. The Canadian relay stood disappointed through their television interviews as Bolt and his teammates celebrated and danced on the blue track.
Then, things changed dramatically. The Americans were charged with an illegal baton exchange. The US protested and the IAAF ruled quickly: “All protests and appeals rejected. All results stand.”
So just like the Canadian DQ in 2012 held, the US disqualification stood in 2016.
Courtesy: bostonglobe.com
And the circumstances were eerily similar. Gatlin, Gay and the rest of the Americans ran a victory lap around the track in front of many fans with the American flag wrapped around their shoulders.
Then the disqualification was announced. Redemption for the Canadians.
Akeem Haynes, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, and anchor Andre De Grasse, including Mobolade Ajomale (he ran anchor in the heats) will all received Bronze medals. They made the country beyond proud.
Connaughton tweeted: “Our agony of 2012 might be glory in 2016!”
What an amazing turn of events!
ANOTHER GREAT ONE LALA