McQuay and U.S. 4x4 Earn Silver as Demps and 4x1 Break American Record
Friday, August 10, 2012 | Track and Field
Gators Tony McQuay (U.S.A.) and Jeff Demps (U.S.A.) turned in record-setting performances as members of American relays on Friday at Olympic Stadium.
McQuay ran the third leg of the men's 4x400-meter relay for Team USA, finishing in a season's best 2:57.05 to take home the silver medal for the Red, White and Blue. McQuay earned the Gators' 19th medal of these games and the fourth medal for the track & field program at the 2012 London Olympics.
“I did my job for the day,” McQuay said. “I'm disappointed it wasn't enough. The outcome is not what we wanted, our mission was gold. We got silver, but we have to be blessed with our opportunity today, because a lot of people don't have this opportunity, and God selected us four people to come out here and run this relay.”
Demps ran the opening leg of the men's 4x100-meter relay for Team USA, setting a new American record of 37.38 and earning the top spot in the preliminaries. The U.S. will race in lane 7 on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. The relay lineup will be announced pre-race.
“I just wanted to come out and have fun and enjoy the moment,” Demps said. “There was no pressure, I was just excited.”
The previous U.S. record was 37.40, first run by Michael Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell and Carl Lewis at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. At that time, the performance was a world record. The time was then matched at the 1993 World Championships by Jon Drummond, Andre Cason, Mitchell and Burrell.
Saturday is the final day of competition for the Gators, as Novlene Williams-Mills (Jamaica) is part of the women's 4x400-meter relay pool for Jamaica. If chosen, she will race at 3:25 p.m. ET. If chosen for the finals of the men's 4x100-meter relay, Demps will race at 4 p.m. ET.
To keep up with all the Gators at the Olympics, make sure to follow @OlympicGators on Twitter. For all of the latest information on Florida track and field, log on to www.GatorZone.com/trackfield or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow the team's Twitter account @GZTrackField or www.twitter.com/GZTrackField. You can also find the Gators on Facebook.
| FLORIDA TRACK & FIELD MEDAL COUNT | |||
| NAME | COUNTRY | EVENT | MEDAL |
| Will Claye | U.S.A. | Men's Long Jump | Bronze |
| Will Claye | U.S.A. | Men's Triple Jump | Silver |
| Christian Taylor | U.S.A. | Men's Triple Jump | Gold |
| Tony McQuay | U.S.A. | Men's 4x4 Relay | Silver |
| GATORS AT THE 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES – TRACK & FIELD | ||||
| Gator Athlete | Country | Time (ET) | Round and Event | Result |
| FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 2012 | ||||
| Kemal Mesic | Bosnia | 5:00 AM | Qualification: Shot Put | 12th in flight (24th overall), 19.60m/64-3.75, did not advance to final |
| Kerron Clement | U.S.A. | 6:15 AM | Round 1: 400m Hurdles | 2nd in heat (2nd overall), season's best 48.48, advanced to semifinal |
| Novlene Williams-Mills | Jamaica | 7:00 AM | Round 1: 400m | 1st in heat (6th overall), 50.88, advanced to semifinal |
| Will Claye | U.S.A. | 2:50 PM | Qualification: Long Jump | 6th in flight (8th overall), 7.99m/26-2.75, advanced to final |
| SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012 | ||||
| Tony McQuay | U.S.A. | 5:35 AM | Round 1: 400m | 2nd in his heat (18th overall), 45.48, advances to semifinals |
| Genevieve LaCaze | Australia | 6:35 AM | Round 1: 3,000m Steeplechase | 9th in her heat (22nd overall), 9:37.90 (PR), did not advance to final |
| Kerron Clement | U.S.A. | 2:00 PM | Semifinals: 400m Hurdles | 3rd in his heat (5th overall), 48.12 (SB), advances to final |
| Will Claye | U.S.A. | 2:55 PM | Final: Long Jump | WON BRONZE MEDAL, 8.12m/26-7.75 |
| Novlene Williams-Mills | Jamaica | 3:05 PM | Semifinals: 400m | 3rd in her heat (3rd overall), 49.91, advances to final |
| SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2012 | ||||
| Tony McQuay | U.S.A. | 3:40 PM | Semifinals: 400m | 4th in heat 2 (45.31); did not advance to final |
| Novlene Williams-Mills | Jamaica | 4:10 PM | Final: 400m | 5th place, 50.11 |
| MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012 | ||||
| Moise Joseph | Haiti | 5:50 AM | Round 1: 800m | 6th in heat (36th overall), 1:48.46, did not advance to semifinal |
| Kerron Clement | U.S.A. | 3:45 PM | Final: 400m Hurdles | Finished 8th in final, 49.15 |
| TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012 | ||||
| Will Claye | U.S.A. | 5:45 AM | Qualification: Triple Jump | 4th in flight (7th overall), 16.87m/55-4.25 (-0.2), advances to final |
| Christian Taylor | U.S.A. | 5:45 AM | Qualification: Triple Jump | 1st in flight (1st overall), 17.21m/56-5.75 (+0.2), advances to final |
| Shara Proctor | Great Britain | 2:05 PM | Qualification: Long Jump | 1st in flight (1st overall), 6.83m/22-5 (-0.2), advances to final |
| WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2012 | ||||
| Shara Proctor | Great Britain | 3:05 PM | Final: Long Jump | Finished 9th, 6.55m/21-6 (+0.2) |
| THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2012 | ||||
| Tony McQuay | U.S.A. | 6:35 AM | Round 1: 4x400m Relay | 2nd in heat (2nd overall), 2:58.87 (43.65 split), advances to final |
| Will Claye | U.S.A. | 2:20 PM | Final: Triple Jump | WON SILVER MEDAL, 17.62m/57-9.75 (+0.6) |
| Christian Taylor | U.S.A. | 2:20 PM | Final: Triple Jump | WON GOLD MEDAL, 17.81m/58-5.25 (+0.6) |
| FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 2012 | ||||
| Jeff Demps | U.S.A. | 2:45 PM | Round 1: 4x100m Relay | Finished 1st, 37.38 (new American record), advances to final |
| Tony McQuay | U.S.A. | 4:20 PM | Final: 4x400m Relay | WON SILVER MEDAL, 2:57.05 (season's best) |
| SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 2012 | ||||
| Novlene Williams-Mills | Jamaica | 3:25 PM | Final: 4x400m Relay | |
| Jeff Demps | U.S.A. | 4:00 PM | Final: 4x100m Relay | |
| Semifinal – Contingent Upon Advancing from Round 1 | ||||
| Final – Contingent Upon Advancing from Qualification or Semifinal | ||||
