The American team had an often repeated history of relay failures, so most of the pre-race discussion focused on whether it could successfully get the baton around the track.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, both the men's and women's 4 × 100 metres teams had dropped the baton, leading one reporter to call it the "nadir in US relay history".

[5] On the first leg of the final, Tianna Madison was able to hold her own against the double 100-metre gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Allyson Felix put the USA into the lead, extended by Bianca Knight around the turn.

At the final handoff to individual 100-metre silver medalist Carmelita Jeter, the team enjoyed a 3-metre lead.