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Collection of track & field articles written by Universal Sports...
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Darvis Patton and Terrence Trammell were hanging out on the practice track outside Olympic Stadium in Berlin waiting to watch teammate Allyson Felix run the 200m final before heading back to the hotel.
The two had just helped the United States win their first round heat of the men's 4x100m relay at the World Championships, seemingly restoring order to the universe a year after the U.S. failed to advance at the Beijing Olympics.
The two were then approached by teammate Shawn Crawford.
"Shawn came up to us and was like, ‘Dude, do you know we're under protest and about to be DQd?'" Patton recalled in a recent interview. "We were like, ‘Shawn, quit playing.' Shawn Crawford is a bit of jokester sometimes. He was like, ‘No dude, I'm dead serious. They said we got the baton too early.' I said, ‘What? Are you kidding me?'"
After the race was completed, officials from Great Britain approached the meet referee with evidence that Patton had received the baton handoff from Crawford prior to reaching the exchange zone (watch video), the designated area in each lane where runners can legally pass off to the next leg of the relay.
Neither the official nor the referee had noticed the infraction in real time. Television replays also appeared to be inconclusive (watch video). Patton was sure the protest wouldn't amount to much and that he would get to run in the final two days later.
"I was like, ‘Alright, this won't stick,'" Patton said. "With the technology of Blackberries, people started texting and saying that they saw replays. On TV, Ato Boldon and Lewis Johnson were like, ‘Clearly, they had the baton. U.S. shouldn't have to worry. This won't be a problem. They'll get this overruled.'
"So we get back on the bus to go back to the hotel and I think Joanna (Hayes) sent Shawn a text message saying, ‘Oh no, they're saying you guys are DQd.' Even still, I was kind of like, ‘Whatever.' We still had time to appeal and I was still thinking they were going to look at the replays, see what it looks like and there was no way we were getting DQd. Clearly, I thought we'd be back in."
Patton said he went to bed that night still fully expecting to have another race to run, something he now admits was "wishful thinking." It wasn't until he woke up the next morning and read a press release from USA Track & Field announcing the disqualification was official that his worst nightmare was realized - again.
In Beijing, Patton finished eighth in the 100m and flubbed the baton exchange with Tyson Gay on the relay (watch video). In Berlin, Patton tied up in the 100m final and finished eighth and was again involved in the exchange that resulted in the U.S. disqualification.
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