How Your Spouse Can Help You Make
Better Decisions
Kari Trent Stageberg
The year was 2008 , and the United States men ’ s and women ’ s 400-meter relay teams were both expected to win medals at the Beijing Olympics . As the teams took the track for the final qualifying race , things were looking good . Not only were they in a great position to qualify , but it looked like they even had a chance to win the gold .
But then , in each race , it happened .
“ I went to grab [ the baton ], and there was nothing [ there ],” Tyson Gay explained after the race .
For both the men ’ s team and the women ’ s team , the unthinkable had occurred : Each team had dropped the baton , disqualifying them from the race and preventing them from competing in the finals .
They weren ’ t alone . Although it wasn ’ t due to more dropped batons , for the first time in Olympic history , the United States failed to have any of their main relay teams — whether the 100- , 200- , or 400-meter — qualify for the finals .
But the failed baton handoffs did cause those two big losses . And it ’ s easy to see why . The baton handoff is one of the more technical components of a relay race , relying on split-second timing , communication , and coordination while sprinting . For an Olympic sprinter , this happens quicker than most of us can blink .
54