When Ryota Yamagata, Shota Iizuka, Yoshihide Kiryu and Aska Cambridge arrived in Rio in 2016, World Athletics later wrote, not many of their competitors knew who they were. None of the four had a personal best under ten seconds for 100 meters.
Among the teams they would face in the final was the United States, with Justin Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic 100-meter champion, on its second leg and Tyson Gay on its third.
Japan had been working on something else. Since the 2001 World Championships, its sprinters had used an underhand, or up-sweep, baton pass, which lets the runner handing over get closer to the one receiving it. “The foremost reason for using the underhand pass is that it is least prone to errors,” said Shunji Karube, who directed sprints at the Japanese federation. Relay practice began at a training camp in Okinawa in March, with exchanges drilled in all kinds of running orders, though the four names weren’t settled until July. In the heats Japan ran 37.68, an Asian record. Before the final, Karube moved the outgoing runners’ start marks by seven centimeters.
The final was on a Friday night, August 19. Usain Bolt anchored Jamaica to gold in 37.27. Japan had the lead going into the last baton change, and Cambridge, running in the lane beside Bolt, brought it home in 37.60 for silver, another Asian record.
The Americans crossed third. They were carrying the flag around the track when they found out. Officials ruled that the leadoff runner, Mike Rodgers, had passed the baton to Gatlin outside the first exchange zone. Video replays, according to the Associated Press, showed a clean handoff but were less clear about whether Gatlin had taken the baton before the zone began. The rule makes only the baton’s position decisive.
“We had great sticks in practice, great everything, and something so simple,” Gay said. USA Track & Field appealed, and the appeal was denied the next day. Canada kept the bronze in 37.64. By the AP’s count it was the ninth time since 1995 that the U.S. men had been disqualified or failed to get the baton around at the Olympics or world championships.
World Athletics counted another way. Between 2001 and 2016, Japan’s men had reached and placed in ten of twelve global finals. The U.S. had placed in six, and was later disqualified from two of them.
Karube didn’t call Rio perfect. “For the team to improve further, baton pass work is still necessary, but it is also important to improve the raw speed of individual sprinters,” he said. “We need sub-10 seconds sprinters.”