BEIJING (AFP) — Calling botched handoffs in the 4x100-meter relays a "debacle" of poor preparation and leadership, USA Track and Field president Doug Logan vowed future American athletics teams will be better.
Poor passes on the final curve saw the men's and women's teams eliminated in the 4x100 relay heats, adding to the misery inflicted by Jamaican sprinters in a 100-200 sweep and trouble for favorites in several other events.
"We could win the gold medal in every single track and field event but if we don't win a single thing in the sprints and relays, the public will view our performance as a disaster," Logan said Friday in an internet web posting.
"When we drop the baton in back-to-back relay races, the public views our performance as a disaster.
"We can be a much better team. And we will be."
A major review of all USA Track and Field (USATF) programs will be undertaken after the Olympics, Logan said. While similar evaluations are common, this will be the first since Logan took over last month.
"We will conduct a comprehensive review of all our programs. It will include assessments from inside and outside the USATF family," he said. "Included in the assessment will be the way in which we select, train and coach our relays."
American relays are typically assembled in the weeks before the Olympics with evaluations based on meets between the US Olympic trials and the Games.
Logan said he agreed with many e-mail critics who watched in horror as batons fell with US men and women well ahead. Not since relays debuted in 1912 have Americans failed to medal in a 4x100 Olympic relay.
"They all say more or less the same thing: the dropped batons were reflective of a lack of preparation, lack of professionalism and of leadership. I agree," Logan said.
"Dropping a baton isn't bad luck it's bad execution. Responsibility for the relay debacle lies with many people and many groups, from administration to coaches to athletes.
"Ultimately the athletes on the track are the only ones who can successfully pass the stick around the track, but they need proper leadership and preparation."
Logan also noted that the US team, despite numerous setbacks from Tyson Gay missing the 100m final to Sanya Richards fading while ahead in the 400 and only one medal from three shot put stars, leads the track medal count.
"There's no denying we have had more than our share of bad luck," Logan said. "The public sometimes sees these things and sees only failure, rather than the nature of the Games.
"When the men's marathon concludes on Sunday, we'll still be the world's number one team in terms of medal count."
But he also said there was probably no one who could have stopped Usain Bolt, the Jamaican star who won the 100 and 200 titles in world record times.
"In the men's and women's 200, I'm not sure there was any stopping the Jamaican juggernaut, at least not when it comes to gold medals," Logan said. "Nobody from any country was going to beat 9.69 and 19.30."
US athletes won 26 medals at last year's world championships and 25 at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Entering Friday, the Americans had four golds, eight silvers and eight bronzes for 20 total medals on the track, including sweeps in the 400 and 400 hurdles, with Russia next on 10 total medals and Jamaica on nine.
The Jamaicans and Russia each have five golds, however.
"We won't have nearly as many gold medals as we've won the last two World Championships and gold is what gets it done," Logan said.
"The perception is that we've managed to muck up several key events. Some people have taken that key event letdown and applied it, somewhat unfairly, to the entire team."
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