7) Great Britain men's 4x400m relay team disqualified
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The 4x400m men’s relay saw Great Britain win their semi-final with a time of 2:58.88 and the quartet of Nigel Levine, Delano Williams, Matt Hudson-Smith and Martyn Rooney were even seen celebrating together while the rest of the teams crossed the line.
However, they were in for a rude shock when the officials disqualified the team and they failed to make it to the final. The reason for the disqualification was not known until much later and it was reported that the exchange of the baton between Hudson-Smith and Rooney had been deemed illegal because Rooney had started running outside the 20m changeover area.
Looking at replays of the race proved to be next to impossible as they declined to release video footage of the race and from the replays available on TV there was no proof of an infringement from the British team. A British Athletics spokesman also explained that Rio officials stuck to their original decision even though there was no conclusive proof from the footage of the race.
Even the report from International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) stated that the baton had been taken out of the exchange zone but there was nobody to explain their decision more conclusively. Brazil eventually qualified for the final as a result.
