Of course, the #1 story is Usain Bolt ravaging the record books in the 100 and 200 meters for the 2nd year in a row. For Track and Field's sake, I really hope he's clean. Track needs Usain Bolt, and they need him scandal-free. What a talent.
Which brings us to the other sprinting story from Worlds: the US 4x100 relay team, which was disqualified for making one of their 3 baton passes outside of the allowed zone in the semis. Plus, one of their other passes in the race was almost a disaster. All this after the US team was DQd in Beijing for a bad pass.
As a fan of US Track and Field, I'm incredibly disappointed. As a former sprinter (and 4x100 runner), I am absolutely disgusted by the recent US 4x100 performances.
Yes, unlike every other relay, the baton passes are important in the 4x100, as bad passes can ruin the momentum a sprinter has built up and be the difference between 1st and 2nd or 3rd place. However, this isn't rocket science. Most of what goes into baton passing is pretty standard.
1) The hand you carry the baton in is the opposite hand of what the guy before you and the guy after you uses. For example, if the leadoff guy carries the baton in his left hand, the 2nd leg will carry it in his right hand, and so on. Usually, you give the anchor leg the choice, and everyone else falls in line based on that.
2) If you are carrying the baton in your left hand, you move to the right edge of your lane when it's time to make the pass. The next runner stands on the left of the lane. This allows runner 1 to simply extend his arm straight out to make the pass, rather than trying to cross his arm over his body. Interestingly, I saw at least 3 teams in Beijing where this was not done, which defies belief.
3) The runner receiving the baton needs to start moving before his teammate gets to the passing area, which involves turning his back on his teammate coming in. Therefore, the teammate needs to yell at the 2nd guy to extend his hand when he is in range to make the pass. Usually the runner will yell "stick".
4) When the receiver hears the call, he needs to extend his arm back somewhere between 30 and 45 degrees, keeping his hand flat and his thumb out of the way. The flat hand is crucial, as this provides the most margin for error for the pass. It's tempting to cup your hand since you're going to need to grab the baton at the end of the pass, but a cupped hand means the pass placement has to be perfect, or the baton is getting dropped, and you look like idiots. The other usual problem is the thumb tries to close in before the baton has been placed in the outstretched hand, effectively playing defense on the pass.
5) The pass is the responsibility of the runner giving up the baton. What this means is you cannot let go of the baton until you know your teammate has it in his hand. Effectively, he needs to take it out of your hand. This means you need to have a secure grip on the baton, but not a death grip. If the baton his the ground during the pass, 99.9% of the time it's the fault of the guy giving up the baton.
As you can see, the basics of passing a baton are pretty basic and pretty consistent. The only variable is the receiver figuring out when he needs to start running. Again, after 20-30 minutes, this should be figured out. Assume you need to know this info about 3-4 guys, and that's 2 hours. Add in a little refresher the following day (say another hour, tops) and you should be good.
Look, nobody's perfect, and mistakes will happen, but occasionally. If you screw up the baton pass in 2008, you should NEVER screw it up the following year. The only explanation is guys aren't working on it. Even for the guys who are there to run the 100/200 or both as well, the relay comes later. You should be done with your individual work by the time the relays come around. And even if you're not quite done, it's a couple of hours tops.
The only explanation for the continued problems the US 4x100 relay teams encounter with their baton passing is one of the following: laziness, arrogance, or they just can't handle the pressure. I don't know which it is (I suspect it's parts of all three), but I am sure it's a total embarassment to fans of US Track and Field, as well as anyone who's ever been a sprinter.
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