Former Tennessee track and field standout Christopher Bailey is bringing a gold medal home from Paris.
Bailey ran in the men’s 4×400-meter relay for the United States on Saturday. He ran the leadoff leg in 44.45 seconds, which was the second-fastest first leg in the final. Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin also ran and the U.S. won the relay in 2:54.43, which broke the Olympic record.
It was the United States’ 19th gold medal in the event and the fifth men’s 4×400 relay title in the past six Olympics.
On Wednesday, Bailey was sixth in the 400 final in 44.58.
Bailey is now the 11th Olympic champion from Tennessee track and field, but he’s the only athlete with ties to Tennessee who won a gold medal this summer. He’s also the first from UT to medal in the men’s 4×400 and the first with ties to UT to win an Olympic title in track since 2016, when Tianna Madison won gold in the long jump and 4×100 relay.
Bailey ran track at Mississippi Valley State before transferring to Tennessee. In 2021, he made the indoor All-SEC first team and was an indoor USTFCCCA first-team All-American in the 4×400 relay in 2022.
Recent UT graduate Clement Ducos, representing France, was fourth in the 400 hurdles in 47.76.
Kelsey Robinson wins silver medal with USA volleyball
Kelsey Robinson, an outside hitter for the U.S. women’s volleyball team, added another medal to her collection Sunday. The U.S. fell short of repeating as Olympic champions, getting swept by Italy (25-18, 25-20, 25-17) to win silver.
Robinson won SEC Player of the Year at UT in 2011 before transferring to Nebraska. She has won three Olympic medals, with a bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics and gold in Tokyo.
Uroš Plavšić wins bronze medal with Serbia men’s basketball
Former Vols basketball center Uroš Plavšić won his first Olympic medal Saturday when Serbia beat Germany 93-83 in the bronze medal game.
However, Plavšić did not play in the game. He is the third Tennessee men’s basketball player to win an Olympic medal, following Ernie Grunfeld and Allan Houston, who won gold medals with the U.S. in 1976 and 2000, respectively.
Plavšić, who played for the Vols from 2019 to 2023, went undrafted after his college career. The 7-foot-1 center played with the Atlanta Hawks in the 2023 NBA Summer League before playing professionally in Serbia for Mega Basket in the ABA League last season.
Wes Kitts place 8th in weightlifting
Wes Kitts, a Knoxville native representing the U.S. in weightlifting at the Paris Olympics, placed eighth in the men’s 102-kilogram division Saturday.
Kitts lifted 172 kilograms (379 pounds) in the snatch but failed in his attempt to lift 177, which would have tied the American record he set at the Tokyo Olympics, during which he placed eighth in the heavyweight division. He lifted 202 kg (445 pounds) in the clean and jerk but was unable to clear 210 kg, finishing with a combined total of 374 kg (825 pounds).
Liu Huanhua of China won the gold medal with a total weight of 406 kg (895 pounds). Uzbekistan’s Akbar Djuraev took silver and Yauheni Tsikhantsou, a Belarusian competing under the Individual Neutral Athletes flag, earned bronze.
Kitts, who played football at Halls High School and Austin Peay before beginning his weightlifting career, holds five American records and is a three-time Pan-American champion. He also won a gold medal at the Pan American Games in 2019.
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee’s Chris Bailey wins gold in 4×400 relay at Paris Olympics
