At the second handoff, English Gardner seemed to leave even with Schillonie Calvert, while Alexandria Anderson had not arrived with the baton yet.

Gardner had to come to a complete stop at the end of the zone to wait for the baton, finally resuming with a legal handoff in dead last place.

By the final handoff, Jamaica had an 8-meter lead on the second place Russian team, Gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce on the anchor pulling away and victory assured.

Coming down the straight, Britain's Hayley Jones was swallowed up by France's Stella Akakpo, Germany's Verena Sailer and American Octavious Freeman speeding from the back trying to make up lost ground.

Bernard Amsalem, the president of the Fédération française d'athlétisme, called the French team's disqualification "an outrage".