‘Where is clean sport?’ Furious China 4x100m relay team edged out of final after USA reprieve
Chinese lose their place in the final after American quartet are offered an unprecedented rerun on their own after protesting over obstruction in their heat
China cried foul on Friday after losing out on a place in the 4x100 metres relay final at the Rio Olympics after the United States team were given a second chance in a rare rerun.
The Americans won a reprieve after claiming obstruction by a Brazilian runner forced them to drop the baton. They then competed against themselves, topped the qualifying times and pushed the eighth fastest team – China – out of the final.
The Chinese team claimed the decision was “unfair”, while angry sprinter Liang Xiaojing went further, questioning if the sport was “clean”.
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China launched an appeal before the rerun, but that was rejected by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
“The US team dropped the baton because of their own fault – not entirely due to Brazil’s obstruction,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted the Chinese team as saying.
“It was hugely unfair to let the US team rerun on their own. Letting them run without any competition and disturbance on the track is very much different from how the other teams ran.”
The Chinese team also said retired superstar hurdler Liu Xiang was obstructed by an athlete during a world championship race in 2011, but an appeal was rejected by the IAAF.
