World Athletics Championships 1987/4 × 100 m men

2. World Athletics Championships
discipline	4 × 100 m relay
gender	Men
Attendees	19 relays with 79 athletes
venue	Rome
Competition location	Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	September 5th (preliminary / semi-finals) September 6th (final)
Medalist  United States  Soviet Union  Jamaica

The Olympic Stadium in Rome

The men's 4 x 100 meter relay at the World Athletics Championships in 1987 was held on September 5 and 6, 1987 in the Olympic Stadium in the Italian capital, Rome .

The USA became world champions with the line-up of Lee McRae , Lee McNeill , Harvey Glance and Carl Lewis (final) as well as Dennis Mitchell, who was also used in the preliminary / semifinals .
Second place went to the Soviet Union with Alexandr Evgenev , Viktor Bryshin , Vladimir Muravyov and Vladimir Krylov (semifinals / finals) and Andrei Fedoriw, who was also used in the preliminary run .
Bronze went to Jamaica ( John Mair , Andrew Smith , Clive Wright , Raymond Stewart ).

The runners only used in the preliminary or semi-finals received corresponding precious metal. Only the athletes actually used were entitled to records and best performances.

Existing records

World record	37.83 s	USA ( Sam Graddy , Ron Brown , Calvin Smith , Carl Lewis )	OS 1984 in Los Angeles USA	August 11, 1984
World championship record	37.86 s	USA ( Emmit King , Willie Gault , Calvin Smith , Carl Lewis )	1983 World Cup in Helsinki , Finland	August 10, 1983

The existing world championship record was not set and not improved at these world championships.

In the final on August 6, there was a new European record with 38.02 seconds by the silver medalist Soviet Union in the line-up of Alexandr Evgenev , Viktor Bryshin , Vladimir Muravyov and Vladimir Krylov .

doping

The Canadian Ben Johnson tested positive for stanozolol three days after his Olympic victory in 1988 and had to give up his gold medal. His results at these world championships - first place in the 100 meters and fourth place in the Canadian 4 x 100 meter relay - were also canceled because Johnson admitted to having violated the doping regulations before. He was initially banned for two years, but had to accept a lifelong ban after his return to competitive sport because a doping violation was proven again.

Two seasons in particular were disadvantaged:

• Uganda - The team would have been eligible to start in the semi-finals during their time.
• Japan - The team would have been eligible to start based on its placement in the final.

Preliminary round

5th September 1987

The preliminary round was carried out in three runs. The first four relays per run - highlighted in light blue - as well as the four fastest teams - highlighted in light green - qualified for the semi-finals. Ultimately, only two of the teams that had started were eliminated in these heats: Uganda - actually eligible to start in the semifinals due to Canada's subsequent doping-related disqualification - as sixth in the first heat and Great Britain after disqualification in the first heat.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)
1	United States	Lee McRae Lee McNeill Harvey Glance Dennis Mitchell	38.80
2	Hungary	István Nagy László Karaffa István Tatár Attila Kovács	39.11
3	Japan	Kaoru Matsubara Hirohisa Ota Masahiro Nagura Hiroki Fuwa	39.49
4th	People's Republic of China	Li Tao Cai Jianming Li Feng Zheng Chen	39.63
5	Spain	Enrique Talavera Juan José Prado Miguel Ángel Garcia Javier Arques	40.20
6th	Uganda	Moses Musonge Joseph Ssali Sunday Olweny Edward Bitoga	40.22 actually qualified for the semi-finals
DSQ	Great Britain	Lincoln Asquith John Regis Mike McFarlane Clarence Callender

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)
1	Soviet Union	Alexandr Evgenjew Viktor Bryshin Vladimir Muravjow Andrei Fedoriw	38.98
2	BR Germany	Fritz Heer Volker Westhagemann Christian Haas Norbert Dobeleit	39.10
3	Brazil	Joilto Bonfim Carlos de Oliveira Arnaldo da Silva Robson da Silva	39.57
4th	Italy	Ezio Madonia Stefano Tilli Paolo Catalano Pierfrancesco Pavoni	39.58
5	Ghana	John Myles-Mills Emmanuel Tuffour Salaam Gariba Eric Akogyiram	39.77
6th	Taiwan	Lai Cheng-Chyuan Lee Shiun-Long Chang Yih-Yuan Cheng Hsin-Fu	40.05

Forward 3

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)
1	Jamaica	John Mair Andrew Smith Clive Wright Raymond Stewart	38.88
2	Cuba	Ricardo Chacón Leandro Peñalvar Sergio Querol Andrés Simón	39.44
3	Senegal	Charles-Louis Seck Hamidou Diawara Joseph Dias Amadou Mbaye	39.83
4th	Portugal	Arnaldo Abrantes Pedro Curvelo Luis Cunha Luis Barroso	40.10
DOP	Canada	Ben Johnson Atlee Mahorn Desai Williams Mike Dwyer	admitted to the semifinals
DNS	Nigeria	Augustine Olobia Patrick Nwankwo Innocent Egbunike Chidi Imoh

Semifinals

5th September 1987

In each of the two semi-finals, the first four seasons - highlighted in light blue - qualified for the final.

Semi-final run 1

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)
1	Soviet Union	Alexandr Evgenjew Viktor Bryshin Vladimir Muravyov Vladimir Krylow (semifinals / finals) in the preliminary run also: Andrei Fedoriw	38.50
2	BR Germany	Fritz Heer Volker Westhagemann Christian Haas Norbert Dobeleit	38.84
3	Italy	Ezio Madonia Stefano Tilli Paolo Catalano Pierfrancesco Pavoni	39.52
4th	Japan	Kaoru Matsubara Hirohisa Ota Masahiro Nagura Hiroki Fuwa	39.71 actually qualified for the final
5	Spain	Miguel Ángel Garcia Juan José Prado Ángel Heras (semi-finals) Javier Arques in the preliminary also: Enrique Talavera	39.74
6th	Ghana	John Myles-Mills Emmanuel Tuffour Salaam Gariba Eric Akogyiram	39.94
7th	Senegal	Charles-Louis Seck Hamidou Diawara Joseph Dias Amadou Mbaye	40.22
DOP	Canada	Ben Johnson Atlee Mahorn Desai Williams Mike Dwyer	admitted to the finals

Semi-final run 2

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)
1	United States	Lee McRae Lee McNeill Harvey Glance Dennis Mitchell	38.33
2	Jamaica	John Mair Andrew Smith Clive Wright Raymond Stewart	38.66
3	Hungary	István Nagy László Karaffa István Tatár Attila Kovács	38.78
4th	People's Republic of China	Li Tao Cai Jianming Li Feng Zheng Chen	39.05
5	Cuba	Ricardo Chacón Leandro Peñalvar Sergio Querol Andrés Simón	39.08
6th	Brazil	Joilto Bonfim Carlos de Oliveira Arnaldo da Silva Robson da Silva	39.22
7th	Taiwan	Lai Cheng-Chyuan Lee Shiun-Long Chang Yih-Yuan Cheng Hsin-Fu	39.90
8th	Portugal	Arnaldo Abrantes Pedro Curvelo Luis Cunha Luis Barroso	40.24

final

September 6, 1987

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)
1	United States	Lee McRae Lee McNeill Harvey Glance Carl Lewis (final) in the preliminary / semi-final also: Dennis Mitchell	37.90
2	Soviet Union	Alexandr Evgenjew Viktor Bryshin Vladimir Muravyov Vladimir Krylow (semifinals / finals) in the preliminary run also: Andrei Fedoriw	38.02 ER
3	Jamaica	John Mair Andrew Smith Clive Wright Raymond Stewart	38.41
4th	BR Germany	Fritz Heer Volker Westhagemann Christian Haas Norbert Dobeleit	38.73
5	Hungary	István Nagy László Karaffa István Tatár Attila Kovács	39.04
6th	Italy	Ezio Madonia Domenico Gorla (final) Paolo Catalano Pierfrancesco Pavoni in the preliminary / semi-final also: Stefano Tilli	39.62
7th	People's Republic of China	Li Tao Cai Jianming Li Feng Zheng Chen	39.93
DOP	Canada	Ben Johnson Atlee Mahorn Desai Williams Mike Dwyer

Web links

• IAAF World Championships in Athletics, 2nd IAAF World Championships in Athletics , accessed March 25, 2020
• Men 4x100m Relay Athletics II World Championship Rome (ITA) 1987 at todor66.com, accessed March 25, 2020
• Results in the IAAF Statistics Handbook for the 2019 World Cup in Doha, Men 4x100m Relay, Rome 1987 (PDF 10.3 MB, p. 226), English, accessed on March 25, 2020

Video

• IAAF World Championships Rome 1987 4x100m Relay Men Final on youtube.com, accessed March 25, 2020

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 4 × 100 m , accessed on March 25, 2020
2. ↑ Progression of the European Outdoor Records, 4x100m Men , Spanish / English, p. 36 (PDF, 271 kB), accessed on March 25, 2020
3. ↑ No day like any other: Ben Johnson will be blocked on eurosport.de, March 4, 2016, accessed on March 18, 2020
4. ↑ Inga Böddeling, The Fall of Ben Johnson on morgenpost.de, August 14, 2018, accessed on March 18, 2020