Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay

Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
5000 m		men		women
10,000 m		men		women
100 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men		women
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men		women
Road events
Marathon		men		women
10 km walk				women
20 km walk		men
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men		women
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Heptathlon				women
Decathlon		men
Wheelchair races

These are the official results of the men's 4 x 400 metres relay event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. There were 35 nations competing.

United States ran the event without their top two qualifiers from the Olympic Trials. world record holder Butch Reynolds was injured before the games and 400 meters gold medalist Michael Johnson was injured during his 200 metres 19.32 world record.

Seizing the opportunity of a weakened US squad, Britain's Iwan Thomas shot out to a lead from the gun putting a big gap on USA's Lamont Smith to his inside. Reality set in and Thomas began to tie up toward the end of his leg, allowing Smith to gain back to almost even with Thomas by the handoff, with Michael McDonald putting Jamaica into third position. Alvin Harrison ran a solid turn and looked to put America in the lead at the break, but Jamie Baulch sprinted past him on the outside to put the Brits back in the lead. Harrison held his position behind Baulch all the way until the end of the second turn, with Greg Haughton bringing Jamaica into the three team breakaway for the medals. Harrison steadily gained on the last half of the turn pulling even by the straightaway, then cleanly separated, putting USA in the lead. Haughton followed Harrison around Baulch running down lane 2 trying to catch Harrison. USA and GBR exchanged cleanly on the inside, but as Haughton handed off to Roxbert Martin, they crossed legs with Martin coming out doing a full somersault, Jamaica losing a couple of steps on Derek Mills leading for the Americans, with Mark Richardson in hot pursuit. Richardson pulled in the gap to Millls, looking poised to pounce coming off the final turn, but Mills held him off and pulled away down the straight. Mills handed off to Anthuan Maybank, whose selection to the U.S. team was controversial. Maybank was not selected for the individual race because he had been disqualified for a lane violation in the Olympic Trials. Normally, the top six finishers would be selected and he technically did not finish.^[1] Now in the absence of Johnson and Reynolds, he was thrust into the potential hero's role of anchoring the American team. With a three meter deficit to make up, Britain's silver medalist Roger Black had other ideas. Black steadily gained on Maybank and was in perfect position to pass coming off the final turn. But Maybank never let him by, lifting his knees and pulling away from Black to bring USA home with a four metre victory for the gold medal. Davian Clarke brought Jamaica home for bronze three seconds later. Behind the medalists, Senegal made a terrible final handoff behind Japan, leaving them even with Poland on the final lap. Ibou Faye made up the deficit, passing Japan's Shigekazu Ōmori and finished setting a new National Record that survived two decades.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
United States (USA) LaMont Smith Alvin Harrison Derek Mills Anthuan Maybank Jason Rouser*	Great Britain (GBR) Iwan Thomas Jamie Baulch Mark Richardson Roger Black Mark Hylton* Du'aine Ladejo*	Jamaica (JAM) Michael McDonald Greg Haughton Roxbert Martin Davian Clarke Dennis Blake* Garth Robinson*

* Athletes who participated in the heats only and received medals.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics.

World Record	2:54.29	Michael Johnson Andrew Valmon Butch Reynolds Quincy Watts	Stuttgart (GER)	August 22, 1993
Olympic Record	2:55.74	Andrew Valmon Quincy Watts Michael Johnson Steve Lewis	Barcelona (ESP)	August 8, 1992

Results

Final

RANK	NATION	ATHLETES	FINAL	LANE
	United States (USA)	• Lamont Smith • Alvin Harrison • Derek Mills • Anthuan Maybank	2:55.99	5
	Great Britain (GBR)	• Iwan Thomas • Jamie Baulch • Mark Richardson • Roger Black	2:56.60	6
	Jamaica (JAM)	• Michael McDonald • Roxbert Martin • Gregory Haughton • Davian Clarke	2:59.42	4
4.	Senegal (SEN)	• Moustapha Diarra • Aboubakry Dia • Hachim Ndiaye • Ibou Faye	3:00.64 NR)	3
5.	Japan (JPN)	• Shunji Karube • Koji Ito • Jun Osakada • Shigekazu Omori	3:00.76	7
6.	Poland (POL)	• Piotr Rysiukiewicz • Tomasz Jędrusik • Piotr Haczek • Robert Maćkowiak	3:00.96	4
7.	Bahamas (BAH)	• Carl Oliver • Troy McIntosh • Dennis Darling • Timothy Munnings	3:02.71	2
8.	Kenya (KEN)	• Samson Kitur • Samson Yego • Simon Kemboi • Julius Chepkwony	DNS	1

Non-Qualifiers

RANK	NATION	ATHLETES	SEMI	HEATS
—	Italy (ITA)	• Fabrizio Mori • Alessandro Aimar • Andrea Nuti • Ashraf Saber	3:02.56	3:03.60
—	South Africa (RSA)	• Alfred Visagie • Arnaud Malherbe • Hendrik Mokganyetsi • Bobang Phiri	3:02.96	3:03.79
—	Brazil (BRA)	• Sanderlei Parrela • Valdinei da Silva • Everson Teixeira • Eronilde de Araujo	3:03.46	3:02.51
—	Australia (AUS)	• Mark Ladbrook • Michael Joubert • Paul Greene • Cameron MacKenzie	3:04.55	3:03.73
—	Switzerland (SUI)	• Laurent Clerc • Kevin Widmer • Alain Rohr • Mathias Rusterholz	3:05.36	3:03.05
—	Russia (RUS)	• Innokentiy Zharov • Mikhail Vdovin • Ruslan Mashchenko • Dmitriy Kosov	3:05.63	3:04.73
—	Saudi Arabia (KSA)	• Saleh al-Saydan • Mohammed al-Beshi • Hashim al-Sharfa • Hadi Somayli	3:07.18	3:04.67
—	Nigeria (NGR)	• Udeme Ekpeyong • Clement Chukwu • Ayuba Machem • Sunday Bada	DSQ	3:02.73
—	Germany (GER)	• Rico Lieder • Andreas Hein • Kai Karsten • Thomas Schönlebe	DNQ	3:05.16
—	Ghana (GHA)	• Solomon Amegatcher • Abu Duah • Julius Sedame • Ahmed Ali	DNQ	3:05.53
—	Cuba (CUB)	• Omar Meña • Jorge Crusellas • Georkis Vera • Roberto Hernández	DNQ	3:05.75
—	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (VIN)	• Eswort Coombs • Thomas Dickson • Eversley Linley • Erasto Sampson	DNQ	3:06.52
—	Botswana (BOT)	• Aggripa Matshameko • Keteng Baloseng • Rampa Mosweu • Johnson Kubisa	DNQ	3:06.62
—	Mauritius (MRI)	• Gilbert Hashan • Desire Pierre-Louis • Rudy Tirvengadum • Jean Milazar	DNQ	3:08.17
—	Qatar (QAT)	• Mubarak Faraj • Ali Doka • Sami al-Abdulla • Hamad al-Dosari	DNQ	3:08.25
—	Antigua and Barbuda (ANT)	• N'kosie Barnes • Michael Terry • Mitchell Browne • Howard Lindsay	DNQ	3:09.46
—	Saint Lucia (LCA)	• Dominic Johnson • Ivan Jean-Marie • Maxime Charlemagne • Max Seales	DNQ	3:10.51
—	Fiji (FIJ)	• Soloveni Nakaunicina • Henry Semiti • Solomone Bole • Isireli Naikelekelevesi	DNQ	3:10.67
—	Sierra Leone (SLE)	• Foday Sillah • Haroun Korjie • Frank Turay • Prince Amara	DNQ	3:11.65
—	Zimbabwe (ZIM)	• Julius Masvanise • Tawanda Chiwira • Savieri Ngidhi • Ken Harnden	DNQ	3:13.35
—	Lesotho (LES)	• Isaac Seatile • Motlatsi Maseela • Makoekoe Mahanetsa • Mpho Morobe	DNQ	3:15.67
—	British Virgin Islands (IVB)	• Mario Todman • Steve Augustine • Greg Rhymer • Ralston Varlack	DNQ	3:17.30
—	Papua New Guinea (PNG)	• Samuel Bai • Ivan Wakit • Amos Ali • Subul Babo	DNQ	3:19.92
—	Maldives (MDV)	• Ahmed Shageef • Mohamed Amir • Naseer Ismail • Hussain Riyaz	DNQ	3:24.88
—	The Gambia (GAM)	• Dawda Jallow • Momodou Drammeh • Lamin Drammeh • Assan John	DNQ	DNF
—	Grenada (GRN)	• Richard Britton • Rufus Jones • Alleyne Francique • Clint Williams	DNQ	DSQ
—	Guyana (GUY)	• Andrew Harry • Roger Gill • Lancelot Gittens • Richard Jones	DNQ	DSQ

See also

• Women's 4x400m Relay

References

• Official Report
• Results