RIO DE JANEIRO -- After controversy almost kept the United States womens 4x100-meter relay team out of Fridays final, the group instead was able to defend its Olympic title.The team of Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner and Tori Bowie finished first to win the gold medal, followed by Jamaica and Great Britain.The gold is Felixs fifth, the most of any U.S. female track star in history.The Americans, who needed to set a qualifying time in a solo rerun hours after dropping the baton in Thursdays preliminaries and getting a second chance on protest, won the final in 41.01 seconds.The Jamaican team that featured Elain Thompson?and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was second in 41.36. Britain won bronze in a national-record 41.77.As so often, Felixs celebrations were mostly muted, but her smile told it all. She had been through injury, the inability to defend her 200-meter title because she didnt qualify at the U.S. trials and a near disqualification in the relay heats.Adversity sometimes makes you stronger, she said. Weve each had a rocky road to get here, and we came together to win the gold.It was an impressive comeback after near disaster on Thursday, when Felix dropped the baton after being bumped by a Brazilian runner. That led to the rerun, and the Americans qualified fastest, taking the place of China in the final.The drawback was they were given the worst lane of all, Lane 1, which has the tightest corners and usually impedes top speed.It didnt bother them.Felix ran the second leg for the Americans, the same section as 100- and 200-meter gold medalist Thompson, and passed to Gardner, who ran a powerful curve to give her team the lead.Bowie ran the anchor leg and held off Fraser-Pryce as the Americans only narrowly missed the world record.Bartoletta was already waiting for Bowie for a wild embrace and to celebrate the second-fastest time in history behind the world record that Felix & Co. set in winning gold at the London Games.?For Bartoletta, it was her second gold in Rio, after she also won the long jump.Felix entered the Games as one of just six women to have won four golds in track and field. At the same time, silver for Jamaica allowed Veronica Campbell-Brown to win a medal at a fifth Olympics dating back to the 2000 Sydney Games.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . "We have always prided ourselves on the way we play defence. Having two big pieces back is going to be a key for us moving forward for years to come," said Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen. Cheap Adidas Maple Leafs Jerseys .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. Though he led the Canucks to what was then a franchise record-shattering campaign in just his second season, Nonis was gone and replaced one year later. http://www.cheapmapleleafsjerseys.com/ . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Cheap Maple Leafs Jerseys China . Pedro scored from a pass by Lionel Messi in the 33rd minute and added two more goals in the 47th and 72nd after Valdes saved his second penalty in four days following his stop in Wednesdays 4-0 over Ajax in the Champions League. Cheap Toronto Maple Leafs Jerseys . "Thank you for the warm welcome," Beckham said on an 80-degree February morning. In this case, it was soccer weather. The sport moved a step closer to returning to South Florida on Wednesday, when Beckham confirmed he has exercised his option to purchase a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Miami. ?NEW YORK -- The first two major NBA draft scouting events of the season happened over the past few days.Scouts got to see Kansas and Michigan State twice as well as Kentucky, Duke, Arizona and Indiana, with plenty of potential lottery picks hitting the court.ddddddddddddWhich prospects impressed and disappointed the most? ' ' '