The awesome foursome

THROUGHOUT these Olympics it was feared that the only thing British sprinters would live up to was the negative predictions of those who said they would never mount a challenge to the all-conquering USA representatives. But if they were uninspiring in the individual events, last night the men’s 4x100m team came together to prove that sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

No doubt stung by the criticism that has been slung their way during the Games, the quartet of British sprinters - none of whom had qualified for the final of either the 100m or 200m - made a mockery of the form book to produce the race of their lives and give Great Britain their first ever sprint relay gold in the modern era.

In doing so, Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis pipped a USA team containing the might of 200m gold medallist Shawn Crawford, 100m winner Justin Gatlin, Coby Miller and 100m bronze medallist Maurice Greene.

A false start from Gardener, the only man in the Team GB ranks to have broken the ten-second barrier, hardly seemed the greatest omen but he held his nerve at the second time of asking and got off to a flier.

Whether inspired by the earlier achievements of Kelly Holmes, egged on by the highly-vocal British support or simply driven by a desire to redeem themselves following the lows of the past week, they scuttled round the track like men possessed, never letting the Americans establish any degree of superiority.

"We work as a team, we race together and we believe in ourselves," said Gardener, trying to explain the season’s best run and the resultant upset. "It’s all about team spirit. That’s what makes us unique and that’s what helped us win."

On the second leg was Darren Campbell. Perhaps the biggest disappointment in the British sprint team in Athens, he had been drafted into the team in place of Christian Malcolm and he claimed had always believed anything was possible going into the race. "I can’t believe what’s just happened but the guys have shown their faith in me and we’ve grown together as a team. And we just knew something big was going to happen tonight."

But there was more. "There is something I’d like to say to Colin Jackson ... I’ve got a gold medal," added Campbell, who has had a very public fall-out with TV pundit Jackson over the former hurdler’s criticism of his form. "Over recent years we’ve been getting closer and closer," said Devonish, who ran the third leg, "and now we’ve finally done it. This has been one of the best days of my life."

Coming into the final few metres, Lewis-Francis had to dig deep to fend off Greene. "I almost caught him in the end," said the American former 100m champion, "but almost isn’t good enough".

Not against a British runner who looked unwilling to budge. "I wasn’t worried about Greene on my shoulder. When I got the baton I was confident that I could bring it home. We worked together as a team and won as a team and I’m an Olympic champion and going home with a smile on my face."

Following hot on the heels of Holmes’ triumph - "maybe I inspired them", she joked as she watched the action on television during her own jubilant press conference - there was a rising sense of anticipation as the 4x400m relay teams lined up on the blocks. But neither the women’s nor the men’s quartets could repeat the feat.

In the women’s event, Donna Fraser, Catherine Murphy, Christine Ohuruogu and Lee McConnell maintained their round-by-round improvement and produced a season best 3:25.12 but finished fourth behind the USA, Russia and Jamaica.

It was a night when the British team continued to surpass themselves, though, and the men also dredged up their best showing of 2004. Led off by Timothy Benjamin, Sean Baldock and Malachi Davis took over for the second and third laps, with Matt Elias bringing the baton home. Although they galloped round in a combined time of 3:01.07, with Elias trying to hang on for a bronze, he was eventually reeled in by the fast-finishing Nigerians and then Japanese, leaving the Brits in fifth place, with the USA again taking gold and the Australians securing silver.

This was a Great Britain track and field team which had struggled to engender any real confidence in their abilities in the run-in to these Games and for most of their time in Athens they had lived down to the lowly expectations. Last night, pride was restored as they offered the fans something to cheer, while our sprinters served a potent reminder never to kick a dog while it’s down - it might get back up and bite you.