London Olympics 2012: Throwback to When Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake Combined in One of Greatest Races in History

• Team Jamaica and Team USA gave the Athletics World one of the best races in the 4 by 100 metres the world has ever seen during the London Olympics in 2012
• Jamaica had Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake in their ranks, while the USA had the likes of Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay
• Bolt powered home the anchor leg after a handover from Blake to set a new world record that is yet to be broken to date

Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake need no reintroduction as far as sprinting is concerned. They are part of the generation from Jamaica that has so often dominated all the short races since the turn of the century.

Bolt is arguably the best ever, given that he is a double World and Olympic Champion. He also still holds the world records in the 100 metres, 200 metres and the 4 by 100 relay.

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Athletics

Jamaica has often been embroiled in cutthroat competition with the United States of America. The exit of Bolt, Asafa Powell and the dwindling fortunes of Blake gave America a foothold in the short races.

In the World Athletics Championships, Fred Kerley led a clean American sweep in the 100 metres as Noah Lyles bagged the 200 metres crown. The relay race surprisingly went to an Andre De Grasse-powered Canada.

London Olympics 2012 saw the best-ever race in the 4 by 100 metres

But no one will ever forget how the 2012 Olympic Games in London brought to the fore the best of the Jamaican and the USA teams in the 4 by 100m race. The USA was led by Tyson Gay, who had the third leg. Others included Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin and Ryan Bailey. Jamaica had Bolt in the anchor leg, with Nesta Carter, Michael Frater and Yohan Blake filling the rest of the spots.

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Athletics

Bolt trounced Bailey in the last lap despite Bailey starting slightly ahead

In the last turnover, the USA were slightly ahead, but Bolt thrust forward with a remarkable run and outsprinted Bailey to set a new world record of 36.84 seconds.

Prior to the race, the world record was 37.04 seconds. The USA finished second, matching the same time, underlining just how fast and epic the duel was.

The closest someone has come to either record was in 2019 when an American team of Noah Lyles, Christian Coleman, Justin Gatlin and Michael Rodgers clocked a 37.10 in the World Championships in Doha.

All the new World Records set at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon

Sports Brief had earlier reported that the Athletics World was treated to a thrilling spectacle at the recently-concluded World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. The event might have failed to live up to the hype due to low fan turnout, but the athletes brought the sauce.

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Athletics

The edition had fans glued to their screens, from Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce winning three medals at 35 years to Alison Dos Santos putting a difficult childhood past him to become a World Champion.

But new world records were also set in a staggering fashion. Sports Brief has compiled a list of all the athletes who set new records.