Perhaps it is demoralizing to watch athletes from a small impoverished country dust you over and over again. I think the U.S. track stars just got rattled by what they saw in Bolt & Co.. That said, I've got my fingers crossed about doping. Whenever I see so much success at once, I just think, "juiced? maybe." I hope not though. I have a suspicion that these Games are among the very cleanest in a long time thanks to the improvements in drug tests. I also wonder if perhaps some U.S. athletes who were so dominant yrs ago were benefitting from access to cutting-edge pharmaceuticals. We know Marion Jones was.

But as we approach the end of the games, and a good dozen or so columns it's obvious that Gary's sole purpose was to overlay the games on Salon's otherwise rant filled editorial policy of blaming and shaming the US for everything from war and global warming to racism to the price of haddock. We get it. Really, we're not that dense.

anyone? anyone? The US of A..........?

The British are drunken hooligans who still think of America as the colonies!

Jamaicans celebrate everything with weed!

So insightful ...

UK 400m relay team beats US team Athens 2004, ergo:

"there are still some lager louts holed up somewhere hoisting pints over that epic takedown of the Cretins from the Colonies"

After 4 years...?

Anyway, got to go now... must get drunk and beat up some old ladies.

Hmm, America was supposed to own easily, but instead got beaten by a small and plucky team that simply worked harder. Maybe there’s a lesson here?

Once again Gary, you prove to me that you are the Usain Bolt of the Salon writing staff (wow, what a DORKY topical reference!)

Great piece once again. So much better than what I've been reading on the more mainstream sports websites where hints at doping are barely even concealed...I'm looking at you cnnsi.com!! It's abhorrent, and I saw this as a Canadian who had his 10 year old heart ripped out by Ben Johnson in Seoul...until we hear that Bolt tested positive, he didn't. Get it? Marvel at his prowess, don't cynically say "well of course he won, he's juiced...unlike our American sprinters" (which is kind of an ironic statement coming from a canuck ;)

The US has had a less than great track meet, oh well, it happens. Go get 'em next time. And in case you forgot...you DESTROYED in the pool...

Bolt et al train at home now...sorry.

from cnnsi.com:

But in recent years, more Jamaican athletes have chosen to stay home. Again, when SI visited in May and watched a practice by the Kingston-based MVP track club, those on the track at 6 a.m. included Powell, Beijing 100-meter co-silver medalist Sherone Simpson, Shelly-Ann Fraser and Beijing 400 hurdles gold medalist Melanie Walker. Even U.S. coaches have realized that the demanding U.S. college schedule grinds up athletes and does not necessarily lead to gold medals. Hence many U.S. athletes (Allyson Felix, Alan Webb, Clement) are training outside the college system. By staying home and both training and attending college on the island, Jamaican athletes can focus on winning international medals.

The U.S. 400 meter relay teams have always made up for lack of baton exchange efficiency with raw speed. With a lot of practice with a set team, small important details such as exactly when to take off and how fast can become routine, leading to smooth exchanges. There is no excuse for a runner receiving the baton to start too quickly and there is no excuse for a passer to not deliver the baton into the receiver's hand.

All this needs to be worked out before arriving at the Olympics. Teamwork is required which may sometimes infer with individual goals. There is a lot of time between the 100 meter finals and the 400 meter relay. How much practicing was done?

American's should be proud of the way Tyson Gay has handled himself...I was... first he offered no excuses in the 100 when interviewed... and then took responsibility for the dropped pass, saying... it was probably my fault, it hit my hand, i should have have it... it's easy to be gracious in victory, much harder in defeat, truly a class guy

There's just no excuse for those drops in the heats. I get it if it happens in the finals, if you're being pressed by the Jamaicans or the UK and have that issue, but in the heats it just makes sense to have conservative passes.

Even if that hurts the overall time by a half-second, the aggregate speed should be good enough to at least come in second, if not win...

The U.S. track team are not the only ones who have lost their grip.

/channeling cossell? i just heard his voice reading your "material".

As a long-time fan of the Tour de France, I'll tell you that when it comes to questions of doping, I've gone thru the stages of denial and disbelief, to incredulousness, to acceptance, and finally arriving at an always-present low grade level of suspicion.

If it's too good to be true, then it is; someone must be cheating.

I've read that they don't have year-round drug testing in Jamacia. That makes it possible to dope & train, and still get clear in time for competition. Then there's the possibility of special designer drugs, which aren't being tested for.

The Jamacian team's totality of results is simply too good to be true. Period.

Just curious, if it was the United States sweeping the medals and setting records on what everyone is calling a ridiculously fast track, you'd still think it's too good to be true and assume they're all cheating right?

Until they're found to be cheats, they're not. Period.

sheesh, can't anybody just enjoy things these days?

....the Jamaican Olympic success must be due to all the rum & coconut water, yam, dumplings, breadfruit, ackee and saltfish, rice and peas, curry goat, patties, pumpkin soup, Johnny cake, cocoa bread, boiled green bananas with mackeral run-down ..in the diet :-)

Thank you, Gary, for that wonderful quote from poet John Keats, in your previous article, when describing Usain Bolt.