1920 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 100 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 100 meter relay
gender	Men
Attendees	52 athletes from 13 countries
Competition location	Antwerp Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 21, 1920 (preliminary round) August 22, 1920 (final)
Medalist  United States  FRA  SWE

The men's 4-by-100-meter relay at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp was held on August 21 and 22, 1920 in the Antwerp Olympic Stadium. 52 athletes took part.

The US relay won the gold medal in a new world record time. Silver went to the French relay, bronze to Sweden.

The Swiss relay was eliminated as the fourth of their advance. Austrian and German relays were excluded from participating in these games.

Existing records

World record	German Empire ( Otto Röhr , Max Herrmann , Erwin Kern , Richard Rau )	42.3 s	Stockholm	July 8, 1912
Olympic record

Conducting the competition

A total of three preliminary runs were carried out on August 21 at 2:30 p.m. local time. The first two seasons each qualified for the final on August 22nd (start: 2.45 p.m.).

Note: The relays qualified for the next round are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

Date: August 21, 1920 at 2:30 p.m. local time

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	United States	Charles Paddock Jackson Scholz Loren Murchison Morris Kirksey	43.0 s
2	Luxembourg	Jean Colbach Paul Hammer Jean Proess Alex Servais	44.4 s
3	Spain	Félix Mendizábal Diego Ordóñez Carlos Botín Federico Reparez	44.5 s
DSQ	Norway	Bjarne Guldager Asle Bækkedal Rolf Stenersen Erling Aastad
	Italy	Vittorio Zucca Giovanni Orlandi Giorgio Croci Mario Riccoboni

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	France	René Lorain René Tirard René Mourlon Émile Ali-Khan	43.0 s
2	Great Britain	William Hill Harold Abrahams Denis Black Victor d'Arcy	43.3 s
3	Netherlands	Albert Heijnneman Jan de Vries Harry van Rappard Cor Wezepoel	43.5 s
4th	Belgium	Max Houben Julien Lehouck Omer Smet Paul Brochart	43.7 s

Forward 3

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Sweden	Agne Holmström William Petersson Sven Malm Nils Sandström	43.4 s
2	Denmark	Henri Thorsen Fritiof Normann Andersen August Sørensen Marinus Sørensen	43.8 s
3	South African Union	Jack Oosterlaak Jacobus Bukes Henry Dafel Francis Irvine	44.4 s
4th	Switzerland	August Waibel Walter Leibundgut Adolf Rysler Josef Imbach	44.2 s

final

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	United States	Charles Paddock Jackson Scholz Loren Murchison Morris Kirksey	42.2 s	WR
2	France	René Lorain René Tirard René Mourlon Émile Ali-Khan	42.5 s
3	Sweden	Agne Holmström William Petersson Sven Malm Nils Sandström	42.8 s
4th	Great Britain	William Hill Harold Abrahams Denis Black Victor d'Arcy	43.0 s
5	Denmark	Henri Thorsen Fritiof Normann Andersen August Sørensen Marinus Sørensenf	43.3 s
6th	Luxembourg	Jean Colbach Paul Hammer Jean Proess Alex Servais	43.6 s

Date: August 22, 1920 at 2:45 p.m. local time

Six seasons lined up for the finale. Even the poor track conditions could not prevent the US relay from setting a new world record with their victory . The competition was of a very high standard, France was only three tenths of a second behind the USA in second place. The Swedish relay won the bronze medal. The sixth placed Luxembourgers were only 1.4 seconds behind the winners.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 150

Web links

• SportsReference 4 x 100 meters , accessed August 31, 2017
• Official report French (PDF), accessed on August 31, 2017

Video

• Team USA Break The 4x100m Relay WR For Gold - Antwerp 1920 Olympics , published October 17, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed on August 31, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ^ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 562 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Official report ( Memento of October 7, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) p. 105, French. (PDF)