SAINT-DENIS, France — Sha’Carri Richardson took the baton and ran like the track owed her a gold medal.

As the anchor of the women’s 4×100 relay, she didn’t have to worry about getting out of the blocks quickly enough. With the eliteness of the American sprinters — Melissa Jefferson handing to Twanisha Terry, handing to Gabby Thomas — you wouldn’t think she’d need to come from behind.

But on this wet Friday night at Stade de France, Richardson had a little work to do.

Run, Sha’Carri. Run.

“I just remember trusting my third leg, trusting Gabby, knowing that she’s going to put that stick in my hand no matter what,” Richardson said.

She was in fourth with 90 meters to go when she had sole possession of the baton. She surged past France instantly. At the 60-meter mark, she’d pulled even with Germany. With 20 meters to go, she knew she was home.

“Handing off to Sha’Carri is obviously incredible,” Thomas, who also won gold in the 200 meters, said. “You know she’s going to get the job done no matter where we are in the race. There is nothing like watching her run down the track and win the race for us.”

Richardson secured her first Olympic gold medal with a 10.09-second anchor leg. After taking silver in Tokyo, the U.S. finished in 41.78 seconds to reclaim the women’s 4×100 relay crown. America has now won three of the last four Olympic one-lap relays.

HERE COMES SHA’CARRI RICHARDSON!

Team USA takes GOLD in the women’s 4x100m. #ParisOlympics

📺 NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/ZM6qaYCQOw

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— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 9, 2024

This was America’s third consecutive major international championship, including the 2022 and 2023 world championship victories. It punctuated the United States’ dominant display in women’s sprints.

In Paris, the U.S. women have won gold and bronze in the 200 meters, silver and bronze in the 100 meters, gold and silver in the 400-meter hurdles, and now gold in the relay. America still has three athletes in the 100-meter hurdles: Masai Russell, Alaysha Johnson and Grace Stark.

The women’s 4×100 relay is usually a massive rivalry with the Jamaicans. But their best sprinters were unavailable. Elaine Thompson-Herah announced in June an injury would keep her out of the Olympics. Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were both late withdrawals after arriving in Paris.

But as Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred proved in the 100 meters — stunning Richardson in her Olympic final debut — the global field of sprinters is too formidable to sleep on. The Americans didn’t sleep.

Jefferson, who led off in the 2022 World Championships, didn’t get the start she wanted. But her time of 11.46 seconds was the third fastest of the opening legs. Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith (11.02) gave her country the early lead.

“I know when it comes to the second leg,” Terry said, “nobody can run the second leg like me.”

The one they call “Tee Tee” was indeed flying. Her 9.98-second leg made up some ground. But she wasn’t alone. Gemima Joseph of France also ran a 9.98 in the second leg.

That put pressure on Thomas.

The hand-off between Terry and Thomas was a little slow. But Thomas ate up the turn (10.25). Even though Gina Lueckenkemper of Germany was a blazing 9.89, the job was done. They got the baton to Richardson with a chance.

Terry said the less-than-perfect handoff between her and Thomas affected the final exchange. Richardson had to slow up a bit and make sure she had full control of the baton. Once she did, it was all on her back.

“She just did what Sha’Carri do,” Terry said. “Stay patient and show her top-end speed.”

Richardson yelled as he crossed the finish line, having snatched gold from the clutches of silver. So she thought, until she looked up at the scoreboard. It had “Great Britain” in the top spot.

She knew it couldn’t be right. She took the baton and ran like the track owed her a gold medal. She knew she was on her game this night at Stade de France. She knew she wasn’t beaten.

She stared at the scoreboard knowing something was wrong. Then it went blank. Typically, the unofficial order flashes on the screen first. When the official times come in, that list goes away and the videoboard re-lists the order one by one. Richardson stared at the blue screen, waiting for the official word. It just had to match what her legs told her. A few seconds felt like minutes.

United States.

Richardson roared at the screen. Flexed at the idea she didn’t win. She knew what she’d done. She ended her first Olympics right. Just like Sha’Carri.

And at the end of the night, she reminded the world how long of a journey it’s been. This Olympics was a microcosm of the 24-year-old’s roller coaster to this moment. The highs and lows. The rousing victories and heartbreak. She knows what it’s like to not get it done. To be singled out by the cruelty of a sprint race.

She knows what it’s like to be on top, to be untouchable.

Now, she knows what it’s like to be an Olympic gold medalist. As she stood on the podium, in front of fellow superstar Thomas, the reality of what it took to get here hit home. And the tears streamed down her face.

Required reading

(Photo: Jewel Samad / AFP via Getty Images)

C’mon Dodgers, you must realize what you’re doing to your best player, continually drenching his season in uncertainty, battering his body, ruining his rituals, denting his spirit.

C’mon. Dodgers, after what happened again Friday, your mandate is clear.

Stop moving Mookie!

Stop bouncing him recklessly around the diamond and the batting order like he’s a centerpiece in a game of beer pong.

Stop treating him like he’s an aging journeyman with marginal talent, zero power and no voice.

Stop taking his unbelievable good nature and inimitable team spirit for granted, or risk him following the lead of other misused talents in this era of athlete empowerment.

Hint: You don’t need this guy asking for a trade.

You laugh, the Dodgers scoff, there’s few who believe this sweet and selfless star would ever create the commotion that any sort of whispered or shouted get-me-out-of-here demand would cause. Plus, he makes $30 million a year on a deal that extends through 2032, which sort of limits his attractiveness.

But he’s only human, and there’s surely only so much pride he can swallow and perceived lack of respect he can stomach. The Dodgers have seemingly reached this breaking point. They have to stop scheming and rearranging and pushing.

They need to back off and let Mookie be Mookie.

“I’ve been saying the whole time, it doesn’t matter where I play, as long as I’m playing and helping the team win,” Betts said Friday afternoon while sitting in the dugout surrounded by reporters.

Believe that. But you better believe the Dodgers need to stop testing the endurance of those words.

The latest remodel occurred Friday when, three days after announcing that Betts would play shortstop upon next week’s return from the injured list, the Dodgers stated he would instead be moving back to right field.

This, after they started the season moving him from second base to shortstop.

This, after they spent last season moving him from right field to second base.

And this, after they announced this week he was moving out of his cherished leadoff spot and batting second so Shohei Ohtani could keep batting first.

Next up, a spot in the bullpen and a job cutting the grass?

Betts has accepted it all with grace. His contagious attitude makes him the MVP of this season even if he never plays another game. But still, in flipping him around again so soon after the previous reversal, the Dodgers didn’t look professional, didn’t sound appropriate, and it didn’t feel right.

Make no mistake, Betts belongs in right field. He won six Gold Gloves there, remember? The Dodgers are their best team with slick Miguel Rojas at shortstop, resurgent Gavin Lux at second and Betts in right.

This is why they never should have moved Betts from right field in the first place. By making the first unusual switch last season, they sent Betts on an odyssey that is both unseemingly and unfair for a player of his stature.

What do you think LeBron James would do if the Lakers asked him to change his game? He would immediately tweet his dissatisfaction and they would relent, that’s what.

How would Kawhi Leonard act if the Clippers openly pressured him over the past several years to play more games? He’d shut it down, that’s what, and they’d have to coax him back.

While other superstars in this town call the shots, Betts simply absorbs. While other superstars in this town defer to no one, Betts seemingly defers to everyone.

Did you hear what he said this week when asked about giving up his beloved leadoff spot to Ohtani because Ohtani hit well when Betts was injured? A switch made even though Betts became an eight-time All Star by batting leadoff?

“There’s nothing really you can say,” Betts said. “Whatever Shohei says goes, and after that we kind of fall in line.”

That’s as close to bitterness as Betts will veer, but it speaks volumes about a potentially divisive clubhouse issue. If a two-time World Series champion and former MVP feels like a newcomer with no playoff experience runs things, how do the guys with lesser resumes feel?

I asked Betts why he doesn’t complain more about not being given the same latitude most other teams offer their stars. Why doesn’t he act more like the accomplished player he is?

“There’s only one Mookie,” he said. “I don’t care. I want to win. Keep that first and foremost, and the rest just is what it is.”

The Dodgers are incredibly lucky he’s their Mookie. Andrew Friedman did his homework when trading for Betts before the 2020 season. Despite recent postseason struggles, Betts has become a leader by example…and example…and example.

“He is a superstar that is a rarity,” said Dodger general manager Brandon Gomes. “He’s – and I think we have a lot of them on our team – ‘Hey, I will take on any challenges that help the team.’ He’s somebody who puts the team first….at the end of the day, he’s just ‘I’m good with whatever. Let’s go win a World Series.’”

During his meeting with the media Friday, Betts gave every public indication that he was good.

He said it was mostly his idea in the past few days to move away from shortstop after he realized that Rojas, also returning from injury, was a better option there.

“I mostly went to them,” he said. “I said, ‘Listen, I believe I can do it, but I want to win, man.’ I want to win. I don’t know if me right there is the best solution.’”

He’s right, Rojas is a better shortstop, but Betts wasn’t a terrible shortstop, and nobody worked harder at their position this season, Betts taking hours of pregame grounders in the previous few months to master the position.

“I think it’s the challenge that I really truly loved,” he said. “I don’t know if it was necessarily the shortstop thing, per se. I just haven’t been challenged in a long time. So that task, that challenge to accept and be able to play shortstop in the big leagues, and help the Dodgers? I was going to take it on and I’m happy I did. I’m definitely proud of myself for doing that.”

Lots of pride. Lots of work. All for nothing. No matter what Betts says, that has to hurt. He, of course, never should have been moved to shortstop in the first place. The Dodgers should have acquired a shortstop in the offseason and they would never have had this issue.

The saga of Betts is rooted in the reality that the Dodgers have been brushing him around the diamond as a sort of human concealer to mask past front-office failures.

The outcome reached Friday is partially good. Betts is back in right field where he belongs. It’s the circuitous route they traveled to reach that spot that is so troublesome.

Injured Dodgers player Mookie Betts fields balls and keeps his throwing arm in shape as he recovers from injury.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

And, by the way, is Betts really going to be batting second the rest of the season? I asked him, only half joking, why didn’t he negotiate a return to right field for a return to the top of the order? That feels like something LeBron would do, no?

“No, uh uh,” he said. “We got Shohei there. He’s pretty good, too.”

The next several weeks will reveal whether batting in his new spot will suit Betts. It will also show whether Lux can continue to hold down second base and Betts can – fingers crossed – stay in right field.

At this point, there are seemingly no lineup or fielding guarantees of anything regarding Mookie Betts other than he will play out the season in the worst possible position, that being limbo.

Friday’s eventual win over the Pittsburgh Pirates began with newest Dodger Legend Dusty Baker throwing out the first pitch to Betts, who looked rather nifty crouching behind home plate with a catcher’s mitt and…

No.

The message reached Mike McDaniel from Steve Young in early spring, 2022.

When you coach Tua Tagovailoa, make sure he feels his left-handedness is an advantage, not a flaw or annoyance.

In 2005, Young became the first left-handed quarterback selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is one of only 33 to have ever played in the NFL. Tagovailoa became No. 32 in 2020 when the Miami Dolphins drafted him fifth overall.

When McDaniel took over as Miami’s head coach two years later, he’d never considered what it would be like to coach a lefty — but he did know that Tagovailoa’s overall confidence was shot. The quarterback later revealed that during the depth of his struggles over his first two NFL seasons, he used to look at himself in the mirror and ask, “Do I suck?”

So McDaniel put together a reel that spanned hundreds of Tagovailoa’s plays from practices and games, clipping together throws and decisions he believed could help eliminate negative self-talk from his quarterback. “It was in the process of making the tape for Tua, to present to him ‘this isn’t just lip service,’ to present to him why he is extraordinary and what I’m excited about,” McDaniel told The Athletic this spring, that he noticed something. Tagovailoa’s handedness kept tripping him up.

As McDaniel cut together clip after clip, he began to focus on Tagovailoa’s mechanics instead of the result of the throws, and somewhere in the middle of the film he eventually presented to the quarterback, it clicked. It was as if he were watching Tagovailoa through a mirror — he could see him throw the way he could see right-handed quarterbacks throw.

McDaniel began to daydream. If the coach felt his own brain hesitate ever-so-slightly over the left-handed delivery, would defenders feel the same? Could play formations, blocking and route combinations all accentuate a lefty? Was there a way to turn a visual anomaly into a schematic advantage?

Young knew what McDaniel knows now: Understanding how Tagovailoa throws could allow McDaniel to design an offense that takes advantage of how the ball comes out of his quarterback’s hand. It could also be a way for McDaniel to show Tagovailoa: I like you for you.

“What Steve learned is that (being left-handed) felt more like an inconvenience to all parties involved while he was playing, which didn’t help his confidence,” said McDaniel. “He was big on, ‘no, this is a resource, tool or competitive advantage,’ seeing it through that lens.

“Not only was it good advice to approach things with Tua like that, but it was factual.”

A few things naturally change for an offense if the quarterback is left-handed. Some of that irritates teams to the point that many have historically avoided lefties altogether.

For example, a quarterback’s “blind side” (the side of the field he turns his back to during a dropback) switches from the left to the right. The right tackle becomes the blind-side protector on passing plays instead of the left tackle.

Austin Jackson played left tackle after being drafted with Miami’s second first-round pick in 2020 but moved to the right side when McDaniel took over as head coach. “Your mechanics literally change (to) opposite legs,” Jackson said. “My left leg had to become my push leg, my right leg had to become my ‘catch/anchor’ leg that kind of keeps my balance.”

As he made the change, Jackson’s right leg was significantly stronger than his left. His left hip was strong but way tighter. The Dolphins’ strength-and-conditioning staff installed special programming to rebuild both hips and legs for his new role.

Pass catchers also have to adjust to a southpaw thrower. The ball spins the opposite direction — counter-clockwise — coming out of a left-handed quarterback’s hand, and some receivers have said the spin feels strange and takes some getting used to. Some left-handers’ throws can tend to fishtail at the end of deeper balls, though velocity helps dull the difference. Dolphins coaches and receivers say Tagovailoa doesn’t have that issue.

“It makes it a lot easier to live in a left-handed world when your quarterback has enough pronation, enough spin, that no one even notices,” McDaniel said.

Two years after a head-coaching change altered his career trajectory, Tua Tagovailoa signed a $212 million extension with the Dolphins this July. (Megan Briggs / Getty Images)

Oregon Ducks offensive coordinator Will Stein has become a “lefty-whisperer” of sorts in the college ranks. His starter heading into 2024 is left-handed transfer Dillon Gabriel, and Stein previously coached all-conference lefty Frank Harris at UTSA while working with offensive coordinator Barry Lunney, a former left-handed quarterback himself.

The Ducks have workshopped a type of passing system they call “mid-game” that combines elements of quick-game footwork and corresponding short, fast route concepts with more traditional longer dropback route pairings. They can employ both on one play, splitting the field into sides or even multiple sections based on the quarterback’s progression.

“It’s kind of a new way of thinking because it does get defenders’ eyes in spots they are not used to,” said Stein. “It’s quick game on one side and dropback on the other. It’s something we have done a lot of last year and in the spring. … I think you’re gonna see it show up a lot more in professional football.”

With a left-handed quarterback, the sides of the concepts can flip — and therein lies an additional challenge for defenders. A left-handed quarterback’s progressions on any passing play are inverted, so his eyes sweep the field for his receivers in the opposite direction as a right-handed quarterback.

Stein’s experiences in the recruiting cycle and at all-star events have led him to believe that more lefties are on the way. Top high school quarterbacks like Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele and Deuce Knight impressed coaches and scouts at this summer’s Elite 11 in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Modern JUGS machines (the apparatus that shoots footballs out for receivers to catch) now even have a “left-handed” setting.

“There’s plenty of them,” Stein said. “I think the old ‘fear of lefties,’ maybe it’s going by the wayside. … I’ve been around guys that have refused to coach lefties, refused to recruit them. It’s kind of wild, I never really understood the logic behind it.”

Of course, modern NFL defenses are savvy enough to adjust to the ball coming out of a quarterback’s left hand over the course of a game. Most defenders say it only takes about a quarter or so to get used to a lefty.

McDaniel is very clear: He’s not looking for some “Eureka!” moment that changes the sport for left-handed throwers. He just wants to make defenders hesitate — just a little — and maximize production on plays where that happens. It’s why he sought so much speed in his skill players, who are the fastest in the NFL. Against that kind of speed, a fraction of a second’s hesitation could mean death for a defense.

NFL hashmarks are closer to the middle of the field, with wide swaths of grass on either side. Teams that use motion to change formation strength can manipulate the space on one side or the other before the ball is even snapped. Over time, McDaniel realized how many defensive rules are predicated on the quarterback throwing with his right hand.

The Dolphins rank among NFL leaders in using motions and shifts, some of which create new formations that force mismatches with “right side” defenders who suddenly face a flipped play. Rollouts and bootlegs flip sides, too, and the edge defender accustomed to defending those can find himself out of position, creating a natural mismatch for the less-experienced player on the other side.

“What (defensive end) gets used to defending boots the best? Well, the one on the rollout to the right side,” McDaniel said. “OK, well, now you can create schemes to out-flank the defense; to be on the perimeter … and change the pocket. And you’re having players that aren’t used to defending the primary throwing hand of a left-handed quarterback — the (defensive end) on that side — when you fake the boot and go out here, he’s not used to playing (that).”

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McDaniel wondered how Miami’s speed might work in combination with Tagovailoa’s inverted progression, particularly against zone defenders who use visual keys to determine their drops.

The Dolphins also run their own version of the “mid-game” that Stein described at Oregon. The skill players in Miami’s “Chevy” series are so fast that Tagovailoa can use footwork and timing that make it look like he is running quick-game concepts — to the opposite side of the field than usual — before he gets the ball to a receiver on a deeper route.

“Inherently it’s going to hit (defenders) in live football differently, and they are going to be a hair, a fraction … later to react, which is the ultimate advantage of offense,” McDaniel said.

Los Angeles Rams safety Kam Curl, who prepared for Tagovailoa and the Dolphins in 2023 while with the Washington Commanders, said the biggest in-the-moment adjustment a defense needed to make against Tagovailoa’s handedness came when the Dolphins ran a true quick game. The vulnerable short parts of the field flipped sides, so the defensive assignments had to change.

“A right-handed quarterback will catch it — boom to his (right),” Curl said. “But a left-handed quarterback, he’s mainly going to throw it to his (left).”

And against a left-handed quarterback, the “tells” certain defenders get during a right-handed throw aren’t available. On standard strong-side formations with extra targets on a quarterback’s right side, nickel cornerbacks have to align to their matchup and then aren’t able to read a lefty’s eyes the way they can see a right-handed thrower’s. Instead, they end up looking at the back of Tagovailoa’s helmet as he opens his throw to the opposite side.

“I can feel him, but he can’t see,” Tagovailoa said.

Tua Tagovailoa threw for a league-best 4,624 yards last season with 29 touchdown passes and completed 69.3 percent of his throws. (Jim Rassol / USA Today)

Preparing a scout team for a left-handed quarterback is perhaps the biggest impact on an opponent, especially non-divisional teams that may see a lefty once a year or less. Curl recalled that Washington’s scout team quarterback had to reorder his progressions from back-to-front when presenting looks for the starting defense in practices ahead of the game against Miami last year.

“I just felt like everything was just flipped to the opposite side, every read and stuff like that,” said Curl, “Just trying to get that down in one week? It was a little challenging.”

McDaniel hopes to make the week of game preparation for defensive coordinators just a little harder.

“Anytime you can’t prepare for something during the week 100 percent so that one element of game day is new, it’s really hard for the opposing team,” he said.

So if the way Tagovailoa throws the ball causes even a fraction of hesitation, or if how McDaniel schemes formations and plays to the opposite side allows him to capitalize before a defense adjusts, he’ll take it.

“If you would have asked me before I started this job about a left-handed quarterback, I would have nothing to say,” said McDaniel. “Through working with Tua in particular, this is stuff that is super tangible that I know to be a competitive advantage.

“If I could clone a human being and I had the choice of primary hand, and if it was the same human being at quarterback, I would go left-handed just because of those factors — if they were an elite thrower, a pure passer.”

Maybe McDaniel and Tagovailoa will find a genuine new edge for left-handed quarterbacks, maybe they won’t. There’s a larger point at work. Entering their third season together, the two have become collaborators, “ideas” people with genuine, mutual trust in each other.

When Tagovailoa literally wondered, “Do I suck?” and McDaniel responded with a load of tape that he felt argued otherwise, he bought into everything about his quarterback, and he wanted Tagovailoa to know it. Adjusting to his throwing hand was simply the entry point.

In late July, Tagovailoa signed a franchise-record four-year, $212 million contract extension. He said he heard from “several birdies” around the facility that McDaniel advocated for the deal with the front office and team ownership. It further spoke to their bond, which started with the coach wanting to better understand how his quarterback threw and how to build his confidence.

Steve Young was right back in 2022. Or left.

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos: Mike Stobe, Ryan Kang / Getty Images)