Allyson Felix fails to hand over the baton to English Gardner during the preliminary heats of the 4×100 relay on Thursday. (Dylan Martinez/Reuters)RIO DE JANEIRO — The United States’ women’s 4×100-meter relay team dropped the baton in Thursday’s first-round heat, the Americans’ hopes of defending their Olympic title apparently dashed. “We’re just going to regroup, get ourselves together and go out there and be able to compete in the final,” Gardner before a final decision had been made. After missing the podium in 2004 and ’08, the U.S. relay team won gold four years ago in London, edging out the speedy Jamaicans. Felix, 30, is also in the relay pool for the women’s 4×400-meter race.

Source: Washington Post August 18, 2016 15:09 UTC