DALIAN, China (AP):
LAURYN WILLIAMS was running towards Allyson Felix when suddenly Williams noticed something not going to plan.
"Wrong hand, wrong hand," she shouted.
Somehow, they still managed to exchange the baton cleanly and Felix took off - a happy ending this time, but also a prime example of why practice really matters in the fickle world of relay races.
"It's a lot of time and a lot of space and a lot of things coming together," Williams said, when asked about the art of passing the baton.
When things go well, as they did on most of the exchanges the runners practised yesterday at the US Olympic track team's training camp, the Americans wind up with gold medals around their necks.
Disqualified
When things don't go as smoothly, they get results like 2004.
In Athens, Williams took off a bit too soon and Marion Jones couldn't get the baton to her for the third leg of the 400-metre relay. The US team was disqualified for making the exchange outside the 20-metre handoff zone.
"I have absolutely no idea what happened on that one. I never watched it again," Williams said.
On the men's side, Justin Gatlin took a slow handoff from Shawn Crawford, then didn't hand off the baton cleanly to Coby Miller, stepping on his foot and tearing a hole in Miller's shoe. All those precious milliseconds allowed Britain to pull a stunning upset and win the gold by .01 seconds, the closest finish in Olympic relay history.
It was only the second time in the Olympic 400 relay that the Americans had lost a final in which they weren't disqualified for an illegal pass.
Speed and teamwork
"We had four of the fastest guys in the world, three guys who go 9.8 and a guy who goes 9.9 and we only managed a 38.08 to get second," said Darvis Patton, who ran in qualifying on that relay team. "Great Britain, I think their fastest guy ran like 10.1 that year but they managed to get gold with great handoffs."
In other words, raw speed may win the sprints. But it takes both speed and teamwork to win relays.
A number of runners in this year's American relay pool agree that passing the baton is part art, part mechanical and part skill - with a bit of luck thrown in.
"It's something you can craft into an art by practising hard at it and going out and focusing every time you hand off and every time you receive," Crawford said. "When you practise hard, you make it look easy, and when you make it look easy, people can interpret that as, that's nice art."
Art of the pass
In the span of about two minutes at practice yesterday, the huge difference between art and something much less was on display.
Both times began with Crawford tearing down the backstretch, feet pumping, arms churning. The first time, he and teammate Walter Dix got mixed up in a mess of arms and legs, a poor exchange that will cost the Americans the medal if they repeat it on August 22. But on the second try - perfect. Dix went tearing down to the finish line and the dozen or so coaches and teammates watching the drill applauded wildly.
"You've got to be able to read people," said US assistant coach Harvey Glance, a member of the 1976 gold medal relay team. "You've got to read speed. It's timing. You've got to be in the right place at the right time."
There is, indeed, a very precise method to what often must feel like a crapshoot.
Each runner at this level needs between 25 and 28 strides to get from the start to the finish of his leg. The receiving runner counts the trailing runner's steps and waits for him to reach a zone near the passing point, decided in advance.
No room for error
Once the approaching runner hits the zone, that releases the receiving runner and allows him to take off. The object is for both runners to be going about the same speed during the exchange.
There isn't much room for error.
"It's a pretty finite spot," Patton said. "But that's why we practise, to get used to seeing where the guy in back of you hits the spot. Once they hit the spot, that releases you. If you trust them and trust the borders, you're probably going to get a good handoff."
