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Black History Month 2025

Former Bruins make history at 2024 Olympic Games track and field events

Rai Benjamin jumps over a hurdle. (Daily Bruin file photo)

By Aaron Doyle

Aug. 12, 2024 4:18 p.m.

This post was updated Aug. 18 at 10:43 p.m.

A Bruin-turned-Trojan faced off with a Longhorn-turned-Bruin at the Olympic Games.

Rai Benjamin – who spent two seasons with UCLA track and field from 2016 to 2017 – represented Team USA in his second Olympics, winning two gold medals in the men’s 400-meter hurdles and 4×400-meter relay at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Recent UCLA alumnus Antonie Nortje represented South Africa in the 4×400-meter relay, placing fifth, 3.69 seconds behind Benjamin’s American squad.

In the 4×400-meter relay, the United States men were led off by Christopher Bailey, who ran the slowest of the four legs. He passed the baton to Vernon Norwood, who maintained a second-place position behind second-place qualifiers Great Britain.

American athlete Bryce Deadmon surged ahead in the third leg, immediately cruising to first place and setting Benjamin up to complete the fastest split of the team, breaking the Olympic record in the event in the process.

Like Benjamin, Nortje anchored the relay for his country. Third-leg runner Lythe Pillay passed the baton to Nortje in third place but Nortje couldn’t keep up with the field, running the second-slowest split of his relay and finishing in fifth place with a 2:58.12 time, a South African national record.

(Daily Bruin file photo)
Antonie Nortje receives the baton during a relay race. (Daily Bruin file photo)

South Africa’s qualification to the final did not run smooth. Nortje anchored South Africa in the second heat but fell face-first on the ground, resulting in a 14th-place finish. The South African athlete’s effort accumulated into a 3:03.19 time, failing to post a time good enough for the final.

The South Africans thought it was over. Expected to at least qualify for the final, they sat outside the top nine and seemingly failed to advance.

But then, it was announced that Nigeria would be disqualified from the race.

Nigeria’s lead-off runner Emmanuel Ojeli violated World Athletics’s rule 17.2.3, which states that athletes must stay inside of their lane throughout the entirety of the race. Ojeli stepped into South Africa’s lane, prompting referees to automatically send South Africa into the final, despite not posting a qualifying time.

The 4×400-meter relay concluded Nortje’s Olympic Games, his first following two standout years at UCLA. The relay marked Benjamin’s fourth Olympic medal, one of two he earned in Paris.

Benjamin began his Olympic campaign focusing on his specialty, the 400-meter hurdles. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Norway’s Karsten Warholm edged out Benjamin in the 400-meter hurdle final, setting a world record in the process. Warholm’s world record still stands, but Benjamin’s performance in the final made him the second-fastest man ever in the event.

The cards played out differently in Paris, and Benjamin was chasing gold.

Benjamin qualified for the final with the third-fastest time in the semifinals, with Warholm qualifying in the top spot. On race day, the pair was placed in adjacent lanes, setting up a picture-perfect moment at the finish line.

Throughout the first 300 meters of the race, the two were neck-in-neck with each other. Warholm, known for his closing speed, was 100 meters away from a chance at retaining his Olympic champion title.

At the ninth hurdle, Warhol faltered, misstepping on his landing and disrupting his rhythm. Benjamin continued to build momentum and built a gap that Warholm could not overcome. Benjamin crossed the finish line in first place in 46.46 seconds, a season-best time that won him the gold medal.

Warholm took second in 47.06 seconds, his worst finals performance in a major international competition since the 2022 World Championships where he uncharacteristically placed seventh.

The two events concluded the pair’s Olympic competition. Bringing home two gold medals, Benjamin became UCLA’s most decorated Olympian from the Paris games.

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Aaron Doyle | Assistant Sports editor
Doyle is a 2024-2025 assistant Sports editor. He is a fourth-year psychobiology student from Las Vegas.
Doyle is a 2024-2025 assistant Sports editor. He is a fourth-year psychobiology student from Las Vegas.
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