Frank Dick refutes 'unsporting' claims

British team management did not make an official complaint but informed organisers that the United States team had passed the baton outside the handover section on one of the changeovers in Friday's 4x100 metres relay race.

The US quartet, who won the semi-final and were favourites to defend their title, were disqualified - and the incident raised a little unrest between the transatlantic camps.

Doug Logan, the USA's track and field chief executive, said in a blog on USATF's website: "As Team USA, we run with targets on our backs.

"Other teams, and even officials, acknowledge that we are under a level of scrutiny that no other team face.

"We accept being held to a higher standard as part of being the world's dominant team.

"Because of that, we must take added care to ensure we don't give our opposition any opportunity to beat us in any way than in competition.

"There is an element of politics and sportsmanship which goes into any country's decision to lodge or not lodge a protest.

"While our competitive status makes us targets, it also makes us hesitant to file protests against other countries' athletes, except when medals or the ability of our athletes to advance through the rounds is at stake.

"For instance, in the men's 110-metre hurdle heats here in Berlin, a competitor had clearly run in one of our athlete's lanes.

"But because our athlete qualified with no problem, we didn't file a protest. It simply would be bad international relations.

"Having our friends from the playing fields of Eton then file their protest against us certainly hurt.

"I know we all hope that we won't be in that situation again."

However, Dick - the UK's most successful UK coaching director in the halcyon 1980s period which bred Olympic champions such as Allan Wells, Sebastian Coe, Daley Thompson and Steve Ovett, said he would have taken the same course of action.

The British quartet finished third behind Jamaica and Trinidad in the final and Dick said: "When you're fighting for medals of course you have to, because you're disadvantaging your own team if you don't.

"You must stand tall with your athletes and I think it was the right thing to do - and clearly it was the correct thing because they were disqualified.

"That's the end of that discussion - it's not Great Britain that disqualified them. The Americans disqualified themselves and that's what the arbitrators the jury of appeal, obviously felt."