4x100m clash - Ja vs US

André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

LONDON, England:

Jamaica will be hoping to add to its medal tally today as the women's 4x100m relay team takes centre stage at the Olympic Games in London.

A team of Samantha Henry-Robinson, Sherone Simpson, Schillonie Calvert and Kerron Stewart on anchor, qualified for today's final, which is set for 8:40 p.m. (2:40 p.m. Jamaica time).

It was not a smooth qualifying run as the Jamaicans had to settle for second place with a time of 42.37, behind Ukraine, 42.36, after an untidy baton change between Simpson and Calvert on the backstretch.

Trust

The Jamaicans, who are expected to add 100m gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and bronze medallist Veronica Campbell-Brown to the team for the final, will start in lane six, but Stewart, who should retain her place, believes the team can do well once there is trust among the members.

"Safety is always first but tomorrow we will just have to go out there and have fun and importantly, we have to trust each other," said Stewart.

The Jamaicans did not finish the final at the last Olympics after a baton mishap and Stewart is happy that despite the poor changes yesterday in qualifying, they managed to advance.

"We are in the finals, and if you are not in the finals, you don't have a say so right now we have a pretty good say," Stewart said. "I mean, when you have four people running together who don't do baton passes a lot and who don't run together a lot, you have to expect stuff like this, so it's not about getting a lot of practices, it's about competing together with the stick on the track.

Also today, the women's 4x400m relay team will try to qualify for tomorrow's final.

Jamaica will compete in heat one with Ukraine and France as the main threats with the team expected to be selected from the relay pool of Dominique Blake, Shereefa Lloyd, Shericka Williams, Christine Day, Rosemarie Whyte and Novlene Williams-Mills.

There was disappointment for the men's 4x400m team as Jermaine Gonzales, who has not been at 100 per cent at these games, pulled up on the third leg, as the team failed to finish and missed out on the final.

The day did, however, end in joy for the Jamaicans, as the trio of Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Warren Weir created history by becoming the first Jamaicans to sweep the 200m medal spots, while Bolt became the first man to win consecutive sprint doubles at the Olympic Games.

Bolt stopped the clock at 19.32 with Blake, who also got a silver medal in the 100m in his first Olympic Games posting a time of 19.44, with Weir, who remarkably only took up the event seriously a year ago, winning bronze in a personal best time of 19.84.