Aug. 24, 2008

BEIJING, China - Jeremy Wariner and Reggie Witherspoon won gold medals as the United States took first place in the men's 4x400-meter relay on Saturday night at Beijing National Stadium.

Baylor has two gold medalists for the second straight Olympic Games. In 2004, Wariner and Darold Williamson ran the third and fourth legs of the USA's gold medal relay.

Wariner claims his third career gold medal, while Witherspoon earns his first Olympic medal. Wariner remains one gold medal shy of tying Michael Johnson, who earned four gold medals from the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. Johnson, who was presented with five gold medals, recently returned a relay gold after the other three members of the relay admitted to using performance enhancing drugs.

Wariner ran the anchor leg for the Americans, leading the USA to a time of 2:55.09 and a new Olympic record. Witherspoon ran the third leg of the 4x400-meter relay preliminaries on Friday night.

In addition, Sanya Richards, who trains in Waco under legendary coach Clyde Hart, ran the anchor leg for the United States' women's 4x400-meter relay, overtaking Russia to give the Americans the gold medal.