Track & Field
    Felix Wins Gold, Mance And Nellum Silver In Olympic Relays
    Felix helps lead the USA to a world record in the 400m relay
    Bryshon Nellum and the USA 4x400m relay team battled the Bahamas all day and won the silver medal with a time of 2:57.05.
    Bryshon Nellum and the USA 4x400m relay team battled the Bahamas all day and won the silver medal with a time of 2:57.05.

    Aug. 10, 2012

    Allyson Felix and the USA women's 4x100m relay team won a gold medal by shattering the world record and Josh Mance and Bryshon Nellum helped lead the USA men's 4x400m relay team to a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics today (Aug. 10). With Felix's gold and Mance's and Nellum's silver medals, USC athletes have now captured 23 medals at the 2012 London Games.

    Felix ran the second leg for the USA team which posted a blistering winning time of 40.82, breaking the previous world record by .55 seconds which had stood for 27 years. Tianna Madison gave the USA 4x100m relay team a slight lead in the first leg despite running against Jamaica's gold medalist in the 100m dash Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Felix then extended USA's lead down the back stretch, Bianca Knight maintained the lead around the turn and then Carmelita Jeter brought it home in world-record time. USA's amazing time beat the mark of 41.37 set by Germany in 1985. All three medal-winning teams set national records as Jamaica was second at 41.41 and the Ukraine third at 42.04.

    It was Felix's second gold medal of the Olympics as she won individual gold in the women's 200m dash on Aug. 8 and it brings her career Olympic medals count to three gold and two silvers.

    The men's 4x400m relay team of Bryshon Nellum, Josh Mance, Tony McQuay and Angelo Taylor earned a silver medal with a time of 2:57.05, just losing out down the stretch to a team from the Bahamas which ran a national record time of 2:56.72. The Trojan senior Nellum lead off for USA, after running anchor yesterday, and handed the baton to USC junior to be Mance. Mance came off the stagger in second place and handed off to McQuay just behind the team from the Bahamas. McQuay immediately brought the USA team into first place and gave the stick to Taylor with a slight lead. Taylor, who was added to the team today for the finals after Manteo Mitchell suffered a broken leg in the semifinals, held the lead until the final 50 meters when the Bahamas' Ramon Miller passed him, with the Americans taking second.

     

     

    It was a nine-team final as the South Africa team featuring double-amputee runner Oscar Pistorius was added to the field since one of their runners was tripped by a Kenyan runner in the semifinals on Aug. 9.