Bronze falls to Canada after U.S. miscue
De Grasse, anchor in 4x100, earns 3rd medal
RIO DE JANEIRO• Just like American presidential hopeful Donald Trump, Andre De Grasse is promising to make his country great again, at least when it comes to sprinting at the Olympics.
He’s not doing it so much with his words, but his impressive actions. And unlike Trump, he actually might be able to do it.
The 21- year-old from Markham, Ont., isn’t quite there yet — so far he has just made his country really, really good again — but he’s got plenty of time to build on what he’s started.
De Grasse will leave the 2016 Olympics in Rio with three medals — a silver and two bronze — after helping Canada to a third- place finish in the 4x100- metre relay Friday night at Olympic Stadium.
The Canadians looked to have missed the podium by two one- hundredths of a second and were just four one- hundredths out of a silver medal when the race ended, but the United States was disqualified f or an illegal baton pass.
Once again the legendary Usain Bolt and his Jamaican teammates got the better of De Grasse and the Canadians — and everybody else — running to their thirdstraight gold medal in the relay with a time of 37.27 and giving Bolt nine golds for his stunning collection.
Japan surprised everyone by taking the silver at 37.60 and Canada came in at 37.64.
De Grasse made up ground while running the final leg after Akeem Haynes, Aaron Brown and Brendon Rodney, but couldn’t quite catch up.
“I felt myself gaining on the U.S. and the Japanese, I just ran out of room,” De Grasse told CBC.
Regardless of the colour of medal, the big picture looks beautiful for Canada.
Not since Donovan Bailey and Co. claimed a relay gold to go along with his win in the 100- metres in 1996 has Canada had this kind of success in the sprints on the track.
The Canadians showed they are a present and future danger to any sprinters who have eyes on podiums in 2020 and 2024.
Bolt is 29 and doesn’t seem sold on the idea of coming back for another Olympics. Justin Gatlin, who was part of the disqualified U.S. team, is 34.
Come 2020, De Grasse could be the favourite for the 100 and 200 in Tokyo, and that is something no Canadian has ever been able to say before.
But Canada’s women’s 4x100m relay team was in over its collective head on Friday night as the Americans ran away with the gold medal.
The Canadian team of Farah Jacques, Crystal Emmanuel, Phylicia George and Kamica Bingham placed seventh with a time of 43.15. The Americans, Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner and Tori Bowie, took the gold in a time of 41.01, with Jamaica taking silver and Great Britain bronze.