RIO DE JANEIRO—Tianna Bartoletta kicked off her country’s whirlwind run of medals on the night. So, by all rights, she should get to name it.
Fittingly, the newly crowned Olympic long jump champion went with “Awesome Hour.”
In a span of about 60 minutes Wednesday night, U.S. athletes hauled in a bevy of medals: Bartoletta and Brittney Reese went 1-2 in the long jump, Tori Bowie captured a bronze in the 200 and Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin swept the medals in the 100-meter hurdles — a feat that’s never been accomplished in that event.
A banner evening, for sure. The nation entered the night with 13 medals and left the track with a total of 19 — five gold, seven silver, seven bronze.
“It was an awesome hour,” Bartoletta said.
She started things off by unseating Reese, the defending Olympic champion, in the long jump. Moments later, Bowie won her second medal in Rio by taking bronze in the 200 meters. Not long after that, the hurdlers made history. This was the seventh medals sweep by the U.S. track team in the Olympics and the 23rd for U.S. women in the history of the Summer Games.
