A pity about the Australian team. What happened? I was SURE they will qualify and be contenders for a medal.
see “analyse this” … but no idea what happened or who dropped the stick
Heat 209 March 2008 - 11:12Position Lane Team Country Mark .
1 2 Dominican Republic
(Carlos Santa; Arismendy Peguero; Pedro Mejia; Yoel Tapia) DOM 3:09.77 Q (SB)
2 5 Poland
(Piotr Kedzia; Piotr Klimczak; Grzegorz Zajaczkowski; Wojciech Chybinski) POL 3:09.81 Q (SB)
3 4 Jamaica
(Michael Blackwood; Edino Steele; Aldwyn Sappleton; Adrian Findlay) JAM 3:09.81 q (SB)
4 6 Spain
(Mark Ujakpor; Antonio Manuel Reina; Luis Flores; Marc Orozco) ESP 3:09.93 (SB)
5 3 Australia
(Daniel Batman; Joel Milburn; Mark Ormrod; Dylan Grant) AUS 3:12.69 (SB)
Was wondering the same thing, BUT, from the pics in “analyse this” it would appear milburn has given the baton about 3mtrs before the finish line and Ormrod has dropped it a few mtrs passed the line. Did the Jamaincan knock Ormrod and force him off balance and baton poped out? Pure speculation
Would be great to hear some birds eye views on what occurred
The video I just saw had Ormrod switching the baton from left to right and trying to re-focus getaway acceleration in the same steps when it dropped. Perhaps bad processing of hand-baton change in traffic was the culprit.
The 4x400m requires AT LEAST as much practice as the 4x100 because at least in the short relay everyone stays in their own lane from start to finish. How anyone would swap the baton in the cross-over phase traffic is beyond belief - IF THAT WAS IN FACT THE CASE.
That is a very costly error because an entire relay program has foundered on it, quite apart from the literal expense in dollar terms of flying a squad of relay-only guys to the far side of the planet only to have it all go up in smoke on a fundamental error.
Who was in charge of the technical preparation for this fiasco?
Any chance of being able to see the same video?
It will be re-broadcasted in my region in a few hours. I will make a point to record and post it. In the meantime, check in periodically with wcsn.com. They should have the morning portion up soon.
Sorry guys - I got it wrong. It appears it was inadvertently knocked out of his hand.
He really should have run with it in his left hand until the rush was over – like for the first 30m or something. Oh well…
It’s not that hard, really… you keep your body between the baton and the opposition; same as in basketball where you use your body to shield precious possession…but it needs a certain standard of awareness and a certain amount of practice and/or experience. In the US, because of the fantastic NCAA system involving relays so often, athletes grew up in that relays culture. But most other countries need to work at such awareness .
How about running in a straight line. Ormrod has brought it on himself. He couldnt run straight, he ended up in lane e as he received the baton. All the while the jamaican held his line, to come into the bend. Ormrod is going the opposite direction - was always going to cause a problem