Tokyo Olympics: Huge Blunder as 4x100m Relay Runners Drop the Baton
- South Africa failed to qualify for the final of the 4x100m relays after an unfortunate mishap took place during the handoff
- A slip-up happened when Clarence Munyai was trying to hand over the baton to Shaun Maswanganyi
- This resulted in the team not being able to finish the race and caused South Africa to not qualify for the final event
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The Tokyo Olympics have been disappointing when it comes to Team South Africa and track. Citizens were hoping that things would be different when it came to the 4x100m relay but it was not to be as the baton was dropped, causing South Africa to not qualify for the next round.
After winning gold at the World Athletics Relay Championships in Poland, the South African squad of Clarence Munyai, Shaun Maswanganyi, Chederick van Wyk and Akani Simbine were significant medal contenders.
Source: Getty Images
Munyai started the race for South Africa in lane seven in the scorching heat on Thursday, but the promising team could only get to the 100m mark before a baton incident, according to Sport24.
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At the initial changeover, Munyai intended to transfer the baton to Maswanganyi but the runners clashed and SA failed to complete it.
Munyai did not speak to the media after the accident but Maswanganyi, a student from the United States, took responsibility in tears.
"I don’t like making excuses but at the end of the day I didn’t get out the same way I had been practising,” said Maswanganyi, according to TimesLIVE.
Shaun Maswanganyi speaks to Briefly News about his journey in track
Briefly News previously reported that South African track athlete Shaun Maswanganyi has had quite the journey and recently bagged himself a spot in the Tokyo Olympics, which commenced on Friday, 23 July.
Speaking exclusively to Briefly News, Shaun opened up on how he's feeling about competing on the world stage; he also spoke about his journey in sports and it didn't all start with track. Shaun is multitalented in many sports but he decided that athletics was where he belonged.
Shaun said that his coach is the one who played a big part in him becoming a track athlete.
"He saw my talent in pretty much every sport I took part in. When it came to rugby, basketball and soccer. So he saw my speed and jumping ability," he said.
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Source: Briefly News
