(Spoiler?) My new Olympic hero.

[ColbertWatcher]

If you haven't seen it, or heard about it...








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...the U.S. women's 4x100m relay team dropped the baton and were disqualified.

But instead of giving up, anchor Lauryn Williams turned around, ran back to pick it up, then ran to the finish line.



The U.S. men's team also dropped their baton, but the two runners stood around and looked at each other.

Lauryn Williams, you are a true champion, you don't need a medal for that.

Also, allow me to add my obligatory "Fuck NBC" to NBC: NBC? Fuck you for your shitty interview of Lauryn afterwards.

[Booster]

1. Yeah, that was really something. To have the presence of mind

to do that says a whole lot about this lady. She's a champion in my book.

[ColbertWatcher]

2. Agreed.

While everyone else is holding their heads in their hands, she was finishing the race.

Good on her.

[MadMaddie]

3. I agree! Well done, Lauren!

I have always liked her.

[juajen]

4. Class, that's what Lauren has, class! NT

[Spiffarino]

5. Disqualified or not

...finish the race, because it's not just about you, it's about respect for the sport.

Thanks to kids like Lauryn, America's looking better every day.

[ColbertWatcher]

6. Yes. The gymnasts finish even after falling, although ...

...they aren't disqualified for a fall.

They finish the routine.

I'm going to be watching for Lauryn in London.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

7. DIDN'T WE ALL LEARN HOW TO PASS THE BACON IN THE SEVENTH GRADE??????

AND THE MEN WERE A JOKE.

[ColbertWatcher]

8. I never pass my BACON. n/t

[JVS]

9. Me neither. I'll hide the salami, but no passing bacon.

[Rockholm]

18. Keep the bacon on your plate.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Really? It would have been a really embarrassing way to qualify

She could see teams had finished ahead of her. Even on the off chance that the US team hadn't already broken a rule while dropping it, they'd have had to rely on several teams with better times getting disqualified on some technical violation for the time to mean anything.

It's not as if everyone wondered if she had the ability to run 100m, so it's not proving anything. With gymnasts, figure skaters etc. continuing a routine after a fall, they are at least showing they can still perform well apart from the mistake. But when you've been delayed several seconds by a baton drop, no-one can look on it as a good athletic performance. There's no 'time for the last 50m'.

[ColbertWatcher]

12. I'm not sure I understand what you're saying.

She finished the race even though she knew she wasn't going to win anything.

Her "good athletic performance" is what got her to the games, a mistake between her and her teammate caused her to not medal, her integrity got recognition from me.

Barring an injury, not completing an event is as disgraceful as the guy who threw his bronze medal away because he wanted to win a gold.



I think what she proved is that she has the maturity to finish last.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. They still got disqualified

http://au.sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news/article/-/4946692/olympics-athletics-womens-4x100m-relay-1st-round

There are hundreds of athletes who still finish races when they know they're not going to win. I thought that you were singling out this one as a 'true champion' because she was thinking "we still might qualify if loads of others get disqualified for some reason". Stopping running when you've dropped the baton in the 4x100m is no different to stepping over the line on purpose in a throwing event when you know the throw isn't worth measuring - just an acknowledgement that it's over. It's in no way like the guy throwing his medal away because he thought the judges had been unfair.

[ColbertWatcher]

14. To give up just because you aren't going to win ...

...is pretty immature, if you ask me.

I was singling her out as a true champion because she finished what she started, even after she knew she wouldn't receive any award.

The informal motto of the Olympics is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_motto#Motto">"The most important thing is not to win but to take part!"

Not: "Do your best only if you're going to get something."

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. As I said, there are hundreds who've finished, knowing they won't get into the final

this year, and every year. Stopping running when you've dropped the baton is an acknowledgement that you've failed at the basic task of the race. I'm not sure what disqualified the team, but since they were, it's arguable they didn't finish anyway.

[ColbertWatcher]

16. I believe the dropping of the baton disqualified them. n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. Don't know - a drop in itself doesn't seem grounds:

The baton must be carried by hand. If it’s dropped the runner can leave the lane to retrieve the baton as long as the recovery doesn’t lessen his/her total running distance. Runners may not wear gloves or place substances on their hands in order to obtain a better grip of the baton.

http://trackandfield.about.com/od/sprintsandrelays/a/sprintrules.htm

it may have been a case of where they had to go to get it.

[ColbertWatcher]

21. I don't know either, I've been looking, but ...

...I can't find the reason for their disqualification.

I assumed it was for the drop, but I guess not.

Maybe it was outside the allowable hand-off zone?

[brettdale]

11. Well done to her

Thats what the Olympics are about.

[malaise]

17. Lauren is a class act but she does have a problem with

the baton. She and Marion Jones dropped it in Athens as well - in the final that time.

[ColbertWatcher]

19. One of the NBC commentators mentioned ...

...that she had her hand flat during the pass.

And he speculated that might have made it hard for her teammate to pass it to her.

Regardless, I thought she showed a lot of class by finishing the race.

[Spiffarino]

22. Yeah, she does have trouble with the baton

I don't think we'll be seeing her in any more relays, and that's fine. She's a good enough sprinter who shouldn't have trouble landing solo races.