Track & Field | August 07, 2021

USC athletes earned five gold medals as part of USA's men's and women's 4x400m relay teams and Allyson Felix became America's all-time leader in track and field Olympic medals during the ninth and final day of track and field at the 2020 Olympics at Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan today (Aug. 7). 

Current and former Trojan students won a record 13 medals at the 2020 Olympics, six gold, two silver and five bronze.  USC's previous record for most track and field medals won in a single Olympics was nine at the 2016 Rio Games. This was the fifth consecutive Summer Olympics in which a USC track and field athlete earned at least one gold medal and a Trojan track and field athlete has won at least one medal in every Olympics since 1912.

Felix's gold medal as part of the relay team was her 11^th career Olympic medal, the most ever by an American track and field athlete, moving her past Carl Lewis who earned 10 medals.  It also extends Felix's record for most Olympic medals ever won in track and field by a female track and field athlete.  Felix earned her seventh gold medal which ties her with Katie Ledecky and trails only swimming great Jenny Thompson, who won eight, for most Olympic gold medals won by an American female athlete at the Summer Olympics.

• Felix (USC-2008) and Dalilah Muhammad (USC 2012) ran the second and third legs respectively for Team USA's women's 4x400m relay team which ran away with the gold medal with a time of 3:16.85, winning by 3.68 seconds.  To put that gap into perspective, the second-seventh place finishers were separated by a total of 3.43 seconds and three of those teams set national records. USA's women won the event at the Olympics for the seventh consecutive time, dating back to the 1996 Olympics. Muhammad's split of 48.94 was second in the entire field only to USA anchor Athing Mu's time of 48.32. Kendall Ellis (USC 2018) also earns gold for running a leg for the relay team in the first round.
• Also running in the women's 4x400m relay final but falling short of the podium were Kyra Constantine of Canada which finished fourth with a season-best time of 3:21.84, 0.6 seconds out a medal position, and Nicole Yeargin of Great Britain, which took fifth with a season-best time of 3:22.59.
• Michael Norman (USC 2018) and Rai Benjamin (USC 2018) ran the second and anchor legs respectively for USA's men's 4x400m relay which won the gold with a season-best time of 2:55.70.  Norman took the lead for USA in the second lap and Benjamin brought the stick home with an impressive split of 43.40.

Trojans competing in track in field at the 2020 Olympics and earning medals were:  Rai Benjamin (SILVER – M-400m H, GOLD – M-4x400m), Aaron Brown (BRONZE – M-4x100m), Andre De Grasse (GOLD – M-200m, BRONZE – M-100m, BRONZE – M-4x100m), Kendall Ellis (BRONZE - Mixed – 4x400m, GOLD – W-4x400m), Allyson Felix (BRONZE – W-400m, GOLD – W-400m Relay), Dalilah Muhammad (SILVER – W-400m H, GOLD – W-4x400m), Michael Norman (GOLD – M-4x400m)