Team USA Sweeps Women's Hurdles

The women of Team USA made history on Wednesday when they placed 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd in the 100-meter hurdles event, making a clean sweep of it. It is the first time that the United States has swept a track and field event, and the first time that any nation has swept the 100-meter hurdles.The event also marked the first time that female American track and field athletes swept an event.Brianna Rollins took gold, Nia Ali silver, and Kristi Castlin closed it out with the bronze.“It’s like a sisterhood,” Rollins said of her two teammates.They finished in 12.48, 12.59 and 12.61 seconds, respectively.

Clean Sweep for the Women, No Medals for the Men

The sweep was the 61^stin U.S. Olympic Track and Field history. The last time Team USA swept the medals in a track event was at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where the men swept the 400 meter and the 400 meter hurdles.Ali, a mother, held her 13-month old son out on the track as she posed for pictures.Team USA finished the event without world-record holder Keni Harrison, who did not make the U.S. team this year.The victory was the first Rio de Janeiro gold medal for the USA track team. The “field” side has turned up four gold medals already: Michelle Carter, women’s shot put, Jeff Henderson, men’s long jump; Christian Taylor, men’s triple jump, and Tianna Bartoletta in the women’s long jump.The men’s 110m hurdlers were completely shut out of all medals.The 1-2-3 finish is an improvement from 2012, when the United States went 2-3-4 in the 100 meter hurdles with three different female athletes.Rollins was ecstatic about her victory.“I actually hit a few hurdles and I didn’t let that stop me…I wanted to fulfill this dream and be on that podium,” she said.