Janet Evans | Rulon Gardner | Shawn Johnson | Greg Louganis | Summer Sanders

During the women’s 4×100-meter relay final on Friday night, Allyson Felix’s handoff to English Gardner helped set the United States on a path to winning the gold medal. However, it was Felix’s assist before the race started that might have saved the United States’ podium hopes.

Prior to the relay, Gardner went to get her track spikes when she realized things in her bag had been moved and one of her spikes was missing. She discreetly told one of the U.S. coaches and they set about finding a runner with a size 7.5-foot and an extra pair of shoes.

“I’m normally not a person to forget my shoes. That’s kind of like, you know, a soldier showing up to a war without his guns,” Gardner told Today.

After the search came up empty, Gardner told Felix of her predicament and Felix offered to loan Gardner a pair of her custom size 8 spikes. They weren’t perfect but Felix got the U.S. out of what could have been a very big jam.

View photos Allyson Felix, right, gives the baton to English Gardner in the women’s 4 x 100-meter relay final. (AP) More

“Once again, Allyson, like the vet she is, pulled out an extra pair of shoes,” Gardner said. “Definitely was a half size too big but there’s nothing that double socks couldn’t fix.”

The U.S. women went on to run the second-fastest time in Olympic history. It was their second-straight Olympic win in that relay.

[Related: U.S. men lose appeal of 4×100 disqualification, bronze medal]

The missing shoe was just another patch of adversity the United States overcame to win the gold. The U.S. was disqualified in the preliminary race Thursday after Felix dropped the baton. However, an appeal revealed a Brazilian runner in the next lane bumped Felix’s arm causing the drop.

The U.S. women had to run a time trial to qualify for the final by time.

After the gold-medal race was over, Gardner attempted to return the borrowed shoes, but Felix wasn’t having it.

“You keep those,” Felix told Gardner. “You earned a gold medal in them.”

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday