USA to review Beijing failures

Travis Padgett, left, and Darvis Patton react after the men's 4x100m relay qualification heat at the National Stadium in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 21, 2008.

BEIJING // USA athletics chiefs will review the disappointing Olympic athletics performance that has seen the county's sprinters eclipsed by their Jamaican rivals, the chief executive officer of USA Track and 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 4x100 metres teams last night.

"I, like all fans of Team USA, am extremely disappointed with the performance of our relays," Logan said, after the US men's and women's 4x100 teams dropped batons in last night's opening relay rounds. Logan said the review would be comprehensive, looking at all USA Track and 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. "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. It is the first time since 1976 that the United States have competed and failed to win a sprint title at a Games. The Americans led the medals table at the 2004 Olympics and 2005 and 2007 World Championships.

Jamaican athletes swept all four individual sprints, with Usain Bolt setting world records in the men's 100 and 200 metres. "They (Jamaica) brought their A-game. I don't know where we left ours," said Lauryn Williams, who was involved in the women's botched relay exchange and missed out on a 100m medal after taking silver in 2004. The USA world champions were hard hit by the doom and gloom.

Men's 100 and 200 metres world champion Tyson Gay, still recovering from a hamstring injury at the US Olympic trials, went out of the 100 metres in the semi-finals. Then a botched relay, in which teammate Darvis Patton and Gay failed to connect, added further frustration. World women's 200 metres winner Allyson Felix and 400 metres favourite Sanya Richards also missed gold. World 1,500 metres winner Bernard Lagat, a two-times Olympic medallist for Kenya, missed the final this time, his first in a USA vest. He will seek redemption in Saturday's 5,000 metres, where he is also the World Champion.

The setbacks have implications beyond athletics, wiping out any chance the United States might have had of catching China for the Games's overall gold medals lead. "We have to go back to developing our sprinters," high-profile sprint coach Bob Kersee, who led Dawn Harper to the women's 100m hurdles crown and Felix to a 200m silver, said. "Whether it's the college system or just training and being prepared, we have to concentrate on taking it up to this level. We can be spoiled at times in the United States."

*Reuters