Relay flubs cap 0-for-6 US showing in sprint races

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Still waiting, Gay looked ahead and began to take off. Now accelerating, he glanced back at Darvis Patton, his U.S. teammate in a 400-meter relay preliminary heat. A moment later, Patton let go of the stick, and Gay squeezed his hand shut empty.

Gay never did feel that baton Thursday night, never did get to run his anchor leg, never did get to even compete in a final at the Beijing Olympics, much less win a medal, let alone gold. Instead, the stick slammed to the wet track, a not-so-subtle symbol of American favorites' foibles at the Bird's Nest.

"I feel like I let my teammates down," Gay said. "It's kind of the way it's been happening for me this Olympics."

You're hardly alone, Tyson.

Usain Bolt and the rest of the Jamaican team keeps running circles around everyone, adding yet another gold Thursday when Veronica Campbell-Brown won her second consecutive Olympic 200-meter title.

The United States, meanwhile, keeps falling short of expectations. For the first time in Summer Games history, the U.S. will leave an Olympics 0-for-6 in the sprint races: the men's and women's 100s, 200s and 400 relays.

"It doesn't seem like it's our meet," said Allyson Felix, runner-up to Campbell-Brown in 2004 and this time.

The sprint shutout was assured when, less than a half-hour after the Patton-to-Gay gaffe and at the same curve in the track U.S. women's relay anchor Lauryn Williams couldn't get her hand around the baton Torri Edwards was trying to pass along.

An all-around dismal display, prompting new USA Track & Field CEO Doug Logan to promise "a comprehensive review" of the way the federation does things including, he pointed out, "the way we select, train and coach our relays."

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