The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunermedia.net

RIO de Janeiro, Brazil — They didn’t successfully defend their title from London, England, but the Bahamas still got on the podium in the men’s 4 x 400 metre relay on Saturday night as the athletic competition for the 2016 Olympic Games came to a close at the Olympic Stadium.

Using the combination of Alonzo Russell, Michael Mathieu, Steven Gardiner and Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown, the Bahamas had to dig down deep to hold off Belgium and Botswana for the bronze medal as the United States regained the gold well ahead of silver medallist Jamaica.

With splits of 45.3 for third on his leg for Russell, 45.1 for seventh for Mathieu, 43.79 for first for Gardiner and 44.20 for Brown for fifth, the Bahamas produced a season’s best of two minutes and 58.49 seconds.

With both season best performances as well, the United States ran away with the race in 2:57.30 and Jamaica clinched the silver in 2:58.16.

The Bahamas’ time surpassed the previous SB’s of 2:58.84 that the quartet of Russell (45.2 for first), Brown (44.6 for fifth), Gardiner (44.90 for second) and Stephen Newbold (44.83 for fifth) ran the night before for second in their heat and sixth overall to secure their berth into the final.

While it was a foregone conclusion that the Americans were untouchable this time around, the Bahamians knew they had a shot contesting with Jamaica, Botswana and Belgium. Unfortunately, Trinidad & Tobago and Great Britain, two other contenders, got disqualified in the preliminaries.

As it turned out, it was the fourth Olympic relay medal for the Bahamas - three of which were anchored by Brown - as the men’s team captain in Rio completed his fifth and final appearance in the biggest sporting event on the planet, held every four years.

In addition to leading off on the gold medal team in London, he also anchored the silver medal performance from Andretti Bain, Mathieu and Andrea Williams in Beijing, China in 2008 and anchored as well in Sydney, Australia in 2000 when he and Avard Moncur, Troy McIntosh and Carl Oliver clinched the first relay medal with the bronze.

It was the second medal for the Bahamas as the relay team joined Shaunae Miller, the women’s 400m gold medallist. That pushed the Bahamas tied for 51st overall in the standings with Cote d’voire and the Independent Olympic Athlete, while finishing 14th in the athletic competition.

Brown, the elder statesman of the team at age 37, rebounded after dropping to fourth on the back stretch on his last leg as he was passed by Jamaica’s Javon Francis as they trailed LaShawn Merritt from the United States and Gaone Leaname Maotoanono from Botswana.

But as they came off the final curve and into the home stretch, Maotoanono stumbled with the pressure behind him as Francis reeled him in. Brown passed him as well and just as he got closer to the finish line, he managed to dip to avoid Kevin Borlee and Belgium denying the Bahamas the bronze.

Belgium, featuring three Borlee brothers, established a new national record of 2:58.52, but they didn’t have enough real estate to catch the Bahamas.

The race started with Russell bringing the baton right in the thick of things for the Bahamas.

Mathieu was the third to make the stagger to the inside on the second leg, but as he got to the exchange to pass off to Gardiner, he was in fifth place. Gardiner made a final push in the final 200m and came around to put the Bahamas back into contention as Brown finished off the job.

“It was a pretty good,” said the 24-year-old Russell of his first leg. “I just wanted to go out there and set it up for our team and I think I was able to do that, put us in a good position to be able to get a medal. So I just want to thank God, my coach, my team-mates for pulling it off.”

As the freshest leg, running for the first time in the games, Mathieu said they got the medal and that is all that matters.

“I sprained by hip muscle on the very first curve, but I just had to keep on pushing through it,” said Mathieu, the 32-year-old three-time medallist. “We had a rough year and I know that it was going to be hard, but we came out with something. We just want to thank God for that.”

And Gardiner, the 20-year-old national champion, thanked God for allowing them to come out of the games healthy because they went through a battle in the final.

“A lot of people counted us out, but we managed to bring home a medal, so that’s really good,” he stressed.

Brown, who wasn’t able to advance out of the first round of the 400m, said it was a great feeling to get back on the podium.

“First I want to thank God,” he stressed. “We went out there and we gave it our best. A lot of people didn’t believe that we could do it, but we came through and it’s better to go home with a bronze than to go without anything. So I’m very pleased with the way the guys performed.”

The medal, according to Brown, was dedicated to Demetrius Pinder, the only member in the relay pool, who didn’t get to compete.

In the post-race press conference, Merritt said although he fell short of his goal of winning two medals in the men’s 200 and 400m, he was quite thrilled that the USA put together a collective group of guys, who went out and got the job done because “we wanted this gold medal for the United States” after losing it four years ago.

But Brown warned Merritt and the young group of Americans, who congratulated the Bahamian legend for his longevity at the top, that the scene will shift to the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium next year and the Bahamas will be out to avenge the loss at the IAAF World Relays.

So before he officially retires, Brown said he want to at least come home and put on another show for the Bahamian public.

For their efforts, the relay team will get to split $40,000 in an incentive from the Bahamas Government.