Two teams in the 4×100 Meter did the unacceptable, the unthinkable, the unimaginable. They dropped the baton. If you are slow to take the baton, you may lose a step. But if you drop it, you are disqualified, and someone should have explained this to the team before they stepped on the track!

Fortunately, the American’s learned from their experience. This time, the baton was not going to be a problem. Hopefully, never again would it be a problem for the US in the Olympics. You can come from behind, as Sanya Richards demonstrated, but you cannot recover from the baton hitting the dirt.

The US Women’s team consisted of Mary Wineberg, Allyson Felix , Monique Henderson and Sanya Richards. Sanya had to overtake Russia’s Anastasia Kapachinskaya to win the Gold and it was an exciting race to watch.

The Men’s team LaShawn Merritt, Angelo Taylor, David Neville and Jeremy Wariner broke the Olympic record winning Gold. Wariner looked much happier after this race than after losing to Merriitt in the 400 meter men’s individual event.

The men were very careful to not drop the baton this time. And that care did not make a difference in their winning time. How important is the pass? We hear it in every relay. And someone forgot to tell these guys; they had to learn the hard way.