8 things that happened for the first time ever at the 2016 Rio Olympics

#8 USA Women’s 4x100m relay team runs “alone” in heat

USA Women’s 4x100m relay team competed all by themselves in a time trial to qualify for the final

We have all heard the phrase “loneliness of the long distance runner” but at 2016 Rio Olympics, the world saw the “loneliness of the sprinters” when the United States 4x100m women’s relay team ran alone to make it to the finals. For those of you wondering why this happened, let us tell you. During the regular qualification heat, the United States team was disqualified as they had dropped the baton. However, they appealed for external interference and it was successful when footage showed clearly that Allyson Felix got knocked off her balance due to Kauiza Venancio from Brazil.

Due to this ruling, the United States women’s relay team was asked to race on the track alone to qualify for the final and boy did they claimed the opportunity or what. Not only did they produced the fastest timing in qualification (41.77), they defeated Jamaica on their way to the gold medal as well, staging one of the biggest turnarounds in history.