US granted re-run to send China out of relay race

Manqi Ge (R) and Xioajing Liang (L) after the women's 4x100m relay heats at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug 18, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

China unfortunately lost the chance to enter the women's 4x100 meters final at Rio Olympics with a narrow gap behind the Canadians. This comes after the US successfully appealed its second chance to race alone on Thursday morning local time.

The defending champion cracked 41.77 seconds for the second chance in the solo race, sending China out of the original finalists, among which its result of 42.70 seconds was placed last behind the Canadians' by six thousandths of a second.

The Chinese delegation said it tried twice to protest against the decision, adding that "it was absolutely unfair to allow the US team to rerun alone as running solo creates totally different conditions."

Based on the protest, China requested 9 teams to jointly qualify and run in two groups for the final. "Final in two groups never happened, but neither did a relay team qualify for final by running their own race," the Chinese team stated.

However, it was later rejected by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and the Chinese team said it respected the outcome.

English Gardner (L) and Allyson Felix (R), from the United States, drop the baton in a women's 4x100-meter relay heat at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug 18, 2016. [Photo/IC]

Americans lodged a successful protest after they dropped the baton in the preliminary heat. US athlete Felix claimed that she was jostled by a Brazilian runner when she was about to hand the baton to her teammate.