Sanya Richards rallies relay to Olympic gold

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BEIJING -- Two U.S. women disappointed earlier by their individual efforts, Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards, helped the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team win a gold medal, with Richards running against Russia’s Anastasia Kapachinskaya on a stirring anchor leg.

Felix, silver medalist in the 200, and Richards, bronze medalist in the 400, had come to Beijing banking on individual gold.

They teamed on the relay with Mary Wineberg and Monique Henderson.

Both Henderson and Richards were on the gold medal 1,600 relay at the 2004 Olympics.

Richards closed most of a 7-meter gap on Kapachinskaya immediately after the exchange, then fell back a few steps before passing the Russian with 30 meters to go and winning by a stride in 28/100ths of a second with a time of 3:18.54.

Richards shook the baton in joy as she crossed the line.

-- Philip Hersh