Paul Myerberg

USA TODAY Sports

RIO DE JANEIRO – Even Justin Gatlin could sense the irony.

“The last couple years, you know, track and field for men on the relay side, there’s kind of been bobbles here and there and drops,” he said.

It was clean this time, here at these Rio Games, which is in itself a small victory – very small, nearly infinitesimal, after another big-stage faux pas for the USA in relay events.

For less than five minutes, the country had won bronze, again losing to Jamaica but returning to the medal podium in the discipline for the first time since the 2004 Athens Games.

“I feel like we went out there and got the job done,” said Gatlin. “It was clean handoffs all the way.”

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Then came the ruling: The USA had violated rule 170.7 of the IAAF handbook, which states that “in all relay races, the baton must be passed within the take-over zone.”

In short, the team had made an exchange violation in its first handoff, with Gatlin reaching back toward Mike Rodgers and touching the baton in advance of the legal zone.

USA Track and Field, the country’s governing body for the sport, immediately filed an inquiry to review videotape of the violation. USA Track and Field then confirmed in a tweet just after midnight Saturday that it had officially filed an appeal.

Members of the four-man sprinting team disputed the ruling.

“(Gatlin) never got the stick until he was inside the zone,” Rodgers said. “You can see that on the tape.”

The team had already seen a replay: NBC allowed the runners to take a long look at the tape as they came off the track.

“Looking at it, it seemed like I didn’t have full possession of the stick going into the zone,” Gatlin said. “It looked like (Rodgers) still had his hands on the stick.”

But, Gatlin added, “I don’t know the details of the rules.”

The finish was different in style for the USA – a violation, not a fumble – but strikingly familiar in overall tone.

Eight years ago at the Beijing Games, the men’s relay team failed to even advance through qualifying after a botched handoff between Tyson Gay and Darvis Patton; Gay was also one leg on the team here on Friday night.