The U.S. athletes, which lost chance to compete for both the men's and women's 4x100m relays, got revenge on Saturday evening by winning the women's 4x400m relay gold at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Sanya Richards, the U.S. anchor in the relay who won the bronze medal in the women's 400m race, overtook Anastasia Kapachinskaya of Russia in final strides to the finish line, with a result of 3 minutes and 18.54 seconds.
The U.S. team also consisted of Mary Wineberg, Allyson Felix and Monique Henderson.
Russia got the silver in 3:18.82 and Jamaica the bronze in 3:20.40.
Richards said, "It's so different being the one that's chasing than being the one that's chased. So we just came out here to have fun."
"I made a move at 150 (meters) and the Russian just kept going. And I said, 'keep pushing, keep pushing', and at 50 (meters), I saw the Russian break down a little."
She said, "This summer I was determined to leave with a gold. Of course I was disappointed with the 400m, but I said I wasn't going to leave here without a gold."
Felix said, "We've had our ups and downs (in the Olympics), but to win on this note is great."
Russians luckily got their first women's 4x100m relay gold at Olympics after the ambitious Jamaicans fumbled the handoff in the finals, for which the United States was disqualified because of baton drop.
The U.S. track and field team harvested no gold in all the four sprints and two sprint relays.
They were not as lucky as two days ago and overtaken by the revengeful Americans in the final time. Russia got the silver in 3:18.82.
The Russian team were upset about their eventual defeat by Americans. Yulia Gushchina, who ran the first leg in the relay, said, "Being the first runner, you have more responsibilities. You have to ensure a good start. I ran very fast at the beginning but then regrettably I was overtaken."
Jamaican ran their season's best, finishing the third in 3:20.40.
Shericka Williams said, "We performed well, but the USA and Russia were stronger. The result was not bad, but we went for gold. Anyway, the whole team is satisfied."
(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2008)