Olympic giant Carl Lewis lambasted the U.S. men’s 4×100-meter relay team after watching the race end in shambles on Wednesday night.

"The USA team did everything wrong in the men's relay,” he wrote on Twitter. "The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership. It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw."

The USA team did everything wrong in the men's relay. The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership. It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw .

— Carl Lewis (@Carl_Lewis) August 5, 2021

Lewis, a nine-time Olympic gold medalist, was beyond disappointed as he watched the event unfold, landing Team USA a 6th place finish.

“This was a football coach taking a team to the Super Bowl and losing 99-0 because they were completely ill-prepared,” Lewis told USA TODAY Sports.

“It’s unacceptable. It’s so disheartening to see this because it’s people’s lives. We’re just playing games with people’s lives,” he added. “That’s why I’m so upset. It’s totally avoidable. And America is sitting there rooting for the United States and then they have this clown show. I can’t take it anymore. It’s just unacceptable. It is not hard to do the relay.”

Following the race, some members of the men’s team spoke with reporters about the amount of practice they had for the event as a group prior to competing.

The second leg Fred Kerley said “Don’t know,” while Ronnie Baker, the third leg, added, “Not much.”

"We just didn't get the job done today. That's all," Kerley said, ESPN reported.

The baton exchange between Kerley and Baker is what cost the U.S. the opportunity to advance to the final and potentially return home with an Olympic medal.

"Trying to time that up perfectly with a couple of practices is a little difficult, but it is what it is," Baker said.

Adding to the disappointing loss, Team USA is no stranger to fumbles during either a world championship or the Olympics. According to NBC News, the team suffered a first-round baton drop at the 2008 Olympics, a first-round illegal handoff at the 2009 Worlds and a fall in the final at the 2011 Worlds. In 2012, the team was stripped of their medals after violating anti-doping regulations, and in 2013 athletes brought a mishandled pass in the final. At both the 2015 Worlds and 2016’s Rio Olympics, runners had an illegal handoff.

"I'm honestly kind of mad, not at these guys, they did what they could do," Trayvon Bromell, who ran the opening leg, said, after the race. "I did what I can do. I can really just speak for myself in a sense. Like I said, these guys did their job, I did what I could do. On the first leg, it just — it's really some B.S. for real, to be honest with you."

Lewis, who is now the assistant track coach at the University of Houston (UH), his alma mater, has been involved with the U.S. relays for years due to the volume of university athletes that participate in high-level competitions.

“We’ve been talking about this forever. The relay program has been a disaster for years because there’s no leadership and no system," the 60-year-old said. "When I said everything is wrong, it is. If you break it down, people were in the wrong legs, obviously they were not taught how to pass the baton in those legs. Just simple things like that. I watched it. I’m not blaming the athletes so much. This was leadership.”

“I’m so frustrated because I’m so passionate about those three letters, USA,” Lewis added. “That’s why. I love my country. I love winning. That’s what gets me. How can we let the United States down so much in an unacceptable way like that?”

Carl-Lewis

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