Here’s the rare bungling at this year’s IAAF World Championships in Doha that was not the fault of the event’s corrupt, rapacious organizers. While the Jamaican team sped to victory in last weekend’s women’s 4×100 relay final, the final two runners on the Chinese team seemed to forget how their event—or perhaps running itself—works entirely. As Kong Lingwei passed the baton to Ge Manqi in the race’s last leg, both realized they had stepped outside the designated 30-meter exchange zone, ran back into the handover area to try again, forgot who should be carrying the baton and then took a moment to figure out which direction to run. (Yakety Sax-ing my own.)
These poor runners had good reason for wanting to stick with it and finish the race; the teams who finished in this final were guaranteed spots at the 2020 Olympics. Alas, they were disqualified anyway.
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