USATF Loses Men's 4x100m Relay Appeal: Latest Details and Reaction

The United States men's 4x100-meter relay team has lost its appeal after being disqualified from the gold-medal race on Friday at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. 

Per Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden, IAAF deputy director of communication Anna Legnani's ruling of Team USA's appeal of the decision was that "all protests and appeals rejected. All results stand.''

The U.S. team finished third in the relay race, behind Jamaica and Japan, but it was later ruled that Mike Rodgers passed the baton to Justin Gatlin before reaching the first exchange zone. 

NBC Olympics on Twitter provided highlights of the controversial moment, along with an explanation from Rodgers:

Gatlin also talked about the disqualification, per David Caplan of ABC News: "It was the twilight zone. It was a nightmare. You work so hard with your teammates, guys you compete against almost all year long. All that hard work just crumbles."

These miscues have plagued the U.S. men's team for more than 20 years. Per the Associated Press (via Seth Rubinroit of NBCOlympics.com), the Americans "have been disqualified or failed to get the baton around at an Olympics or world championships" nine times since 1995. 

Jamaica comfortably took home the gold medal with a time of 37.27 seconds thanks to Usain Bolt's mad dash to the finish line. Japan won silver with a time of 37.60 seconds.

Since the U.S. team was disqualified, Canada moved into the bronze-medal spot with a time of 37.64 seconds. 

The United States' last Olympic medal in the men's 4x100-meter relay race was in 2004 when it won a silver. Gatlin and Coby Miller botched one of the handoffs in that race, costing the team a chance at the gold. 

After briefly celebrating what should have been the biggest moment in their lives, the American team once again found itself in a position where it needed to defend itself because of yet another mistake on the biggest stage in the world.