‘Wow, we really did it.’ Gold is sinking in for Canada’s 4x100 men, who showed the world (and Noah Lyles) who’s who

“This morning I woke up and looked at the medal and I thought, ‘Wow, we really did it. We are Olympic champions.’ ”

It still hadn’t quite sunk in, what Blake and his three squad mates had so stunningly, so memorably, so incredulously achieved: gold in the 4x100 men’s relay, a final for which the Canadian quartet had qualified with the slowest time among the teams advancing out of the semis.

Nobody had expected it. Certainly not the top-ranked Americans, even sans Noah Lyles, the 100 metres champion who had decided to sit out the race after finishing third in the 200 metres, a performance he blamed on having contracted COVID.

As everyone surely knows by now, Lyles had blithely dissed the Canadian foursome at the world relay championships in May, when asked if he felt threatened by them for the Games. A snatch of braggadocio on video resurfaced after Blake, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse sprinted to gold. “Who? Who?’’

That had Rodney clapping back on social media.

“I put on my Instagram story: ‘They don’t see us as rivals, I guess we’re their idols.’ ”

Bragging rights and the top of the podium. Worth revisiting, no?

Blake ran the second leg of that stupendous race in 8.98 seconds, elevating the team to fourth after taking the baton from Brown, who had Canada in sixth coming out of the blocks on his 10.43 leg.

“I knew I had to make sure I got a good acceleration,’’ Blake told the Star on the phone. “We were in Lane 9, out of traffic. It was more of a straightaway for me, so I could be a little more loose and upright. I needed to get a good push out of the zone early.’’

All eyes were on the Americans, who botched that first exchange and would ultimately be disqualified for running outside the lane.

“Aaron called and I put my hand back and he missed it the first time,’’ Blake said. “He missed me again the second time. The third time we were successful. I grabbed the baton, was motoring down the backstretch. It felt like I was levitating. I was flying down the backstretch.’’

Undistracted by what he hadn’t seen from out in Lane 9, Blake ran his own race, as did his teammates.

“We were in the back pack. Once I got to the top of the turn, I made sure that I angled myself and pushed all the way through. When I got to Brendon, I looked across and I didn’t see anyone. I couldn’t believe it.’’

He passed to Rodney, who took off with wings on his feet – at 9.20, the fastest he had ever run the third leg.

“I heard the announcer going back and forth: Canada, South Africa, Canada, South Africa,’’ Blake said.

“The only thing I remember is grabbing the stick, running the curve corner and passing it to Andre,” Rodney said. “When I didn’t see anybody, I knew we were in a good position. I thought, ‘We can do it, we’re gonna do it, we’re doing it, we did it!’ ”

“I looked at the Jumbotron behind me,” Blake said. ” I still couldn’t tell if we’d won. Then I heard the announcer say, ‘Canada wins!’ Oh man, surreal.’’

De Grasse ran an 8.89 anchor and the Canadians put up a season-best 37.50 seconds, a heartbeat ahead of South Africa at 37.57, with Great Britain claiming bronze at 37.61.

Brown had the best line later: “This is the Mona Lisa. We’re in Paris, right? Hang it in the Louvre.’’

If few had taken the Canadians seriously, they never doubted themselves. They talked about it the night before: Forget about De Grasse not qualifying for the 100 final and failing to defend his Tokyo gold in the 200, hindered by a sore hamstring; forget about Brown being disqualified for a false start in the 100 heats.

They were still, after all, the 2022 world champions and the silver medallists at the world relays in the spring. Three of them had been together since 2015, with Blake the newcomer in 2021.

“I was always confident that we could medal in the relay,’’ Rodney said from Jamaica, where he is back training. “We were still top two in the world. We proved to everyone that was doubting us that we were one of the best, the best.’’

And they know how to pass a baton with aplomb.

“It comes from trust,’’ Blake said. “If the baton exchange doesn’t slow you down, if the incoming runner matches the outgoing runner, you’re automatically going to run fast.’’

Rodney has watched the race only once. “When I’m able to sit down by myself in a quiet room and watch it, it will finally feel like this is what we did.’’

A grateful and proud nation salutes them.