Olympics: Michael Johnson fires unprompted rant live on BBC as Jess Ennis-Hill cracks joke | Other | Sport

Jess Ennis-Hill couldn’t help but crack a joke after Michael Johnson unleashed a rant about the USA’s disastrous performance in the men’s 4x100m relay on Friday night. A 24-year curse in the team track event continued at the 2024 Olympics as the Americans received a disqualification for a catastrophic baton handoff.

Canada soared to gold in Paris – their first since the 1996 Games in Atlanta – pipping South Africa and Team GB across the line in an exhilarating race.

The USA were among the favourites for victory, despite men’s 100m champion Noah Lyles’ withdrawal after testing positive for Covid.

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However, the team of Christian Coleman, Kenny Bednarek, Kyree King and Fred Kerley crossed the finish line in seventh and were eventually disqualified.

A botched handoff between Coleman and Bednarek was the latest in a long line of similar instances since the USA’s last men’s 4x100m relay Olympic triumph at Sydney 2000.

Coleman’s exchange was late, causing Bednarek – who won silver in the men’s 200m – to almost completely stop as he inherited the baton.

When he received it, he was adjudged to have run out of the handoff zone, resulting in a calamitous DQ at the Stade de France.

Johnson – sat in the BBC‘s trackside studio alongside Gabby Logan, Denise Lewis and Ennis-Hill – wasn’t happy after the incident.

“It’s probably time for us to stop having any expectations of the men’s US team, seriously,” the USA’s four-time Olympic champion said with a stern look on his face.

“Because when you haven’t actually done it for so long, we know that they aren’t going to get it done. They have the speed, but it’s puzzling and bizarre.”

Logan then mentioned that another American Olympic hero, Carl Lewis, had said that it was time to do something about the country’s woes in the men’s 4x100m relay.

Johnson responded: “He said this three years ago. In 2021, Carl was saying it, everybody was saying it, and they are not doing anything about it.”

“It’s endemic; it’s in the system now. It’s ridiculous, it really is, but we should probably stop having expectations.”

Team GB were in a more celebratory mood after Zharnel Hughes, Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake secured bronze.

And Ennis-Hill, revelling in the achievement, couldn’t help but rub salt in Johnson’s wounds by expressing her delight.

“For Great Britain, great though. We did great,” the former Olympic and world champion added.