USC Extends 112-Year Olympics Gold Medal Streak

LOS ANGELES, CA — USC extended its streak of winning a gold medal at each Summer Olympics since 1912 Friday when TeeTee Terry ran the second leg on the U.S. women's 4x100 meter relay, then fellow Trojans Aaron Brown and Andre De Grasse won gold medals for Canada in the next race, the men's 4x100 meter relay.

The U.S. was third when Terry received the baton from Melissa Jefferson, then moved in second when Terry ran her leg in 9.98 seconds, matching France's Gemima Joseph for the second-fastest time of any leg. Joseph also ran the second leg.

The U.S. dropped to fourth behind Germany, whose Gina Lueckenkemper ran her leg in 9.89, the fastest of all 32 legs, Great Britain and France after 200 gold medalist Gabby Thomas ran her leg in 10.25.

Sha'carri Richardson gave the U.S. the lead with 40 meters to go and completed her leg in 10.09 to give the Americans the victory in 41.78. Great Britain was second in 41.85 and Germany third in 41.97.

In the men's race, Brown ran the leadoff leg in 10.43 to put the Canadians in sixth. They moved to fourth after Jerome Blake ran the second leg in 8.98 and third after Brendon Rodney ran his leg in 9.20. De Grasse ran his leg in 8.89 as Canada held off South Africa to win in 37.50.

South Africa was second in 37.57 and Great Britain third in 37.61.

The United States was disqualified due to a botched handoff from Christian Coleman to Kenny Bednarek after the first leg.

Another USC alum, Rai Benjamin, won the gold medal in the 400 meter hurdles in 46.46 later Friday after winning a silver medal in the event in the Tokyo Games.

Terry set the school record in the 100 in 10.89, won the Pac-12 Conference 100 title all three years she competed and helped the Trojans to NCAA championships in 2018 and 2021.

Terry received a bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in 2020 with a minor in forensics and criminality. She later received a master's degree in entrepreneurship and innovation from the USC Marshall School of Business.

The medal was the seventh for De Grasse, tying the Canadian record set by swimmer Penny Oleksiak. De Grasse won the gold medal in the men's 200 in the Tokyo Games when he also won a silver in the 4x100 relay and a bronze in the 100.

De Grasse won bronze medals in the 100 and 4x100 relay in the 2016 Rio Games.

De Grasse competed for USC in 2015, winning the NCAA championships in the 100 and 200 and setting school records in both events. He still holds the 100 record and is second on the 200 list.

Brown ran for USC from 2011-14. He also was a member of the silver medal-winning team in the Tokyo Games and bronze medal winning team in the Rio Games.

Benjamin won a gold medal as part of the U.S. team in the 4x400 relay in the Tokyo Games. In his lone season at USC, he won the NCAA championship in the 400 meter hurdles and ran on the Trojans' 4x400 relay team in 2018 that also won the NCAA championship.

Benjamin is the school record-holder in the 400 hurdles (47.02) and ran on the school record-setting 4x400m relay (2:59.00).

City News Service