JAMAICA FIT WHAT YOU WILL

Now, add the fact that the USA apparently hired Joe Pisarcik to coach its men's and women's 4 x 100 relay teams, i.e., batons were fumbled, certain medals (silver, if not gold) were squandered. Because of the USA's failure to execute baton handoffs between the third leg and anchor leg in both heats, Jamaica will almost certainly finish ahead of the USA in the one area of the Summer Games that Americans have almost always dominated.

The question is, Why?

After the second U.S. relay team dropped the baton on Thursday night, NBC surprised me by putting Tom Hammond, Lewis Johnson and Ato Boldon on camera and having them toss verbal javelins the U.S. track team's way. I like that NBC did that. Boldon criticized the USA's cushy pre-Olympic digs in Dalian (a resort town in China) and Hammond openly wondered if the U.S. track team had a dearth of leadership.

How much of that is part of the equation only the USA sprinters know. The other half of that equation will be the intrigue surrounding Jamaica's athletes, specifically its female sprinters. Look at Jamaica's eight sprint medals thus far. Jamaican men won two medals, both gold, and those "men" were in fact one insanely blessed freak of nature: Usain Bolt. He is simply inimitable.

On the women's side, however, five different women won six medals. The Jamaican women swept the 100. Maybe they are just that fast. 

And maybe there are fewer and fewer of us who believe in the credibility of anyone who wins the 100, men's or women's, these days. Since 1988 eleven different humans have broken the tape in the men's 100 and the women's 100. And to this point, three of them have either tested positive for or admitted blood doping (Ben Johnson of Canada, Justin Gatlin and Marion Jones of the USA), and a fourth (Ekaterina Thanou, Greece) notoriously blew off a drug test on the eve of the Athens Games and was banned from competing here in Beijing.

Which is to say that, in the past twenty years track's marquee event has a shoddy track record.

To date no one has any objective reason to suspect the Jamaican sprinters of using performance-enhancing substances any more than they do the U.S. swimmers. And it's worth noting that three male 100 meter sprint champions from the past two decades--Johnson, whose title was quickly stripped; Linford Christie and Donovan Bailey--all were of Jamaican descent but competed for other countries. But intrigue will probably envelop them, especially the females, for some time.

And while the U.S. sprinters may have failed to meet expectations, let's not lament the overall track and field performance. As of Friday morning here in J-Bing, the U.S. had won 20 medals in track and field. The next best finisher in the medal count, Russia, had won exactly half that number.

Getting the Kinks Out

Did you notice that a Brit named David Davies competed in both the 1,500-meter swim and the open water swim (Open Water?). Just cannot wait until his brother Ray joins him to perform in the Closing Ceremony, a tribute tune to a certain U.S. female hurdler entitled, "Lolo". Or they may just keep their classic in its original form and lead in to it by saying, "This one goes out to Stella Walsh!" (that's for you Olympic nerds... Brian Cazeneuve, are you reading this?)

 Blizzard of Ahhs (and oohs)

Speaking of Lolo Jones, she happened by the NBC commissary on Wednesday afternoon. Later that evening her U.S. Olympic teammate Amanda Bared also visited. And while we here at NBC Sports don't engage in speculation, I can tell you that Wednesday was the first and only day that the commissary staff brought out the blender and made Snickers Blizzards. I'm just saying.

Butter Face

Speaking of Lolo Jones--are we still speaking of Lolo Jones? Apparently, we are-- I read the other day that she is from Des Moines, Iowa, and that at the State Fair earlier this week they unveiled an ice sculpture of her. If that sound vaguely deja vu-dooish to you, it should. U.S. gymnast and four-time medalist here Shawn Johnson is from West Des Moines and was recently sculpted entirely in butter. My dying request is to be sculpted entirely out of Beijing air.

BMX Stats

Watching the BMX competition, weren't you hoping they'd flash a stat showing the name of each rider and next to it the newspaper that he delivers? Oh, you want to hear the second-place joke? "He advanced to the medal round but was forced to withdraw from the competition due to...homework."

Outstanding in the Rain

Congratulations to Olga Kaniskova of Russia, who won the women's 20K racewalk on Thursday morning. The event was held in a rainstorm, but Kaniskova still set an Olympic record. She might have broken the world record if she hadn't had to tote an umbrella-ella-ella.

"Flatwater canoe, that's a nize-uh"

One of the hidden joys of covering the Olympics from the IBC is our access to the live feeds. The flatwater kayak/canoe channel has become a popular one around here the past few days. While there is no on-air announcer on the course on the feed, we are able to listen to the starter as he gathers the rowers to the starting line. The man sounds exactly like Borat. Could this hurt ratings at all, by the way, to have Borat call a kayak race or two?

Cupid's Arrow = Leryn's Javelin

Admittedly, our private reserve of knowledge about Paraguay is limited. In fact, it may not go much further than "The country next to Uruguay, right?" (actually, no) or "Isn't that where Butch and Sundance died?" (wrong again; that was Bolivia). But the Parade of Nations seems to have expanded everyone's global view with the introduction of Paraguayan female javelin tosser Leryn Franco. My first thought upon seeing her was, Is Telemundo missing a soap opera star? Do you realize that Franco could legally wear this outfit and compete in beach volleyball?

Shouldering the Load

When I die I want to come back as U.S. hurdler bronze medalist David Oliver's shoulders. Forget talking about Usain Bolt in the NFL. This dude should be playing tailback somewhere.

Softball's Hard Fall

Yesterday afternoon I spent three hours researching and writing copy for a taped segment we planned to do in tribute to the U.S. women's softball team. One of the astounding bits of tid I learned: In the last two Olympics the U.S. had outscored opponents 108-3 while going 17-0.

But that was before facing Japan last night. The Japanese SHOCKED (shocked!!!) the U.S. with a 3-1 victory. This is nothing short of the Miracle On Ice as far as Japan should be concerned. Yes, the Japanese had taken the U.S. to extra innings in a semifinal just one day earlier, but when you consider that Japan scored as many runs as the USA's previous 17 opponents had, that's just crazy. Congratulations, Japan.

Tough way to go out for the U.S. women. Softball is off the Olympic program for 2012.