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U.S. Men's 400m Relay Team Claims Silver, As Bahamas Win Gold

Ramon Miller (left) of the Bahamas crosses the finish line ahead of Team USA's Angelo Taylor to win the 4x400m relay gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics.
Alexander Hassenstein
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Getty Images
Ramon Miller (left) of the Bahamas crosses the finish line ahead of Team USA's Angelo Taylor to win the 4x400m relay gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics.

The Bahamas men's team has won the 4x400m relay, edging past a surprisingly quick U.S. team to take the gold medal. It was the first gold medal for any male athlete from the Bahamas. The quartet ran a time of 2:56.72, setting a national record. The U.S. set a season best of 2:57.05 to take silver.

Trinidad and Tobago took the bronze medal, just ahead of Great Britain.

The Bahamas led the race after the first lap, with the U.S. running in second. And the two teams' runners stayed ahead of the pack, extending their lead to make it a two-team race.

As the third leg began, South Africa, which began the race in lane 1, trailed the field. By the time its anchor, Oscar Pistorius, the man who made history at these games, received the baton, he was well behind the field.

In that third lap, U.S. runner Tony McQuay took over the lead midway through, and then handed off to Angelo Taylor.

The U.S. and Bahamian runners stayed close all through the middle of their lap, but after the final turn, the Bahamas' Ramon Miller shot past Taylor to take the gold medal.

The race ended an eventful Olympics for the Americans, who saw relay member Manteo Mitchell continue running in Thursday's preliminary heat — despite breaking his leg partway through his lap.

Mitchell said that he knew something was very wrong — and that it hurt very bad — but that he couldn't stop when he saw his teammate Joshua Mance waving him on toward the line to hand off the baton.

The U.S. men finished second in that qualifying relay — to the Bahamas.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.