Andre De Grasse paces Canada to gold medal upset in men’s 4×100 relay

Canada won the gold medal in the men’s 4×100 metre relay at the Paris Olympics on Friday.

The men’s team of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse crossed the line in a season-best time of 37.50, beating South Africa by just 7-100ths of a second. Great Britain claimed the bronze.

The powerhouse Americans, missing star Noah Lyles who withdrew because of COVID-19, were disqualified after botching an exchange.

For De Grasse, who failed to make the finals of the 100 and 200-metre events, he is now tied with swimmer Penny Oleksiak as Canada’s most decorated Olympian with his seventh career medals (two gold, two silver, and three bronze).

“It feels pretty amazing. To be out with these guys, my brothers, I’ve been with them since the beginning of time, so it’s amazing,” said De Grasse.

“We talked about this moment for years. It feels good to bring it to fruition. I’m super grateful.”

It is the third consecutive Olympic medal for Canada in this event after silver in 2021 and bronze in 2016. It is Canada’s first gold medal in the event since Donovan Bailey, current Team Canada chef de mission Bruny Surin, Robert Esmie and current track team coach Glenroy Gilbert stood on top of the podium in 1996 on a steamy summer night in Atlanta.

“This is a team that’s going to go down in history,” Blake said. “At this point, we’re the new fast four. I’m sorry G-man, I’m sorry Bruny, I’m sorry Robert and Mr. Donovan Bailey, y’all step to the side now. It’s ours now.”

It is Canada’s seventh gold medal of these Olympic Games which equals the total from Tokyo 2021 and Barcelona 1992 which ties a national record for most-ever won at a non-boycotted Summer Olympics. The 23 overall medals are one shy of the total won in Tokyo three years ago.

“We had a meeting yesterday and what we talked about was simple: how do you want to leave Paris?” said Gilbert, who is the relay team’s coach, to CBC Olympics. “How do you want to leave the Olympic track here because there’s no guarantee any of us will be back in four years. So how do you want to leave it? Do you want to leave it with a medal? Do you want to leave it as one of the rest of the field?

“They decided tonight that they wanted to leave it as Olympic champions.”

Meanwhile, Canada’s Sade McCreath, Jacqueline Madogo, Marie-Eloise Leclair and Audrey Leduc finished sixth in the women’s 4×100-metre relay in 42.69 seconds in pouring rain.

The United States, anchored by 100-metre silver medallist Sha’Carri Richardson, won in 41.78 seconds, just ahead of Great Britain (41.85). Germany was third in 41.97.

Canada’s gold in men’s relay dodges protest from unnamed nation

A protest was launched after the team captured gold in Paris. The protest was ultimately dismissed, which meant its origins and details would not be revealed, according to Devin Heroux of CBC Olympics.

A replay of the final exchange between Rodney and De Grasse appeared to show the former stepping into Lane 8 — China’s lane — as the handoff was being made.

In a post-race interview with Heroux, relay coach Glenroy Gilbert watched the video and said there was no foul.

“Andre is running in the middle of the lane so it’s kind of crowding Brendan a little bit,” said Gilbert, who was part of Canada’s Olympic gold-medal-winning relay team in Atlanta in 1996. “The rules, as we understand it, you can touch the line, you just can’t have consecutive on the inside-lane line.

“It used to be that you couldn’t touch it at all, at all. But the rules changed a few years ago.”

China wound up in seventh place.

The U.S. team, on the other hand, was disqualified for lane infringement when Christian Coleman botched the initial exchange with Kenny Bednarek. The Americans would not have placed in the medals regardless.