1924 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 100 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 100 meter relay
gender	Men
Attendees	60 athletes from 15 countries
Competition location	Stade de Colombes
Competition phase	July 12, 1924 (preliminary round) July 13, 1924 (semi-finals / finals)
Medalist  United States  GBR  NED

The men's 4 x 100 meter relay at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris was held on July 12 and 13, 1924 in the Stade de Colombes . 60 athletes took part in fifteen relays.

The US relay became Olympic champion in a new world record time . The silver medal went to the British relay, bronze to the team from the Netherlands.

A relay from Austria did not take part. The Swiss relay reached the final, but was disqualified there. German athletes were still excluded from participating in the Olympic Games.

A special feature was that the round stadium in the Stade de Colombes was 500 meters long.

Existing records

World record	USA ( Charles Paddock , Jackson Scholz , Loren Murchison , Morris Kirksey )	42.2 s	Antwerp	22nd August 1920
Olympic record

Conducting the competition

The relays competed on July 12 for a total of six heats. The two best teams each qualified for the semi-finals that took place the next day. From the three preliminary rounds, the two best seasons came to the final on the same day.

Note: The qualified relays are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

Date: July 12, 1924

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Great Britain	Harold Abrahams William Nichol Walter Rangeley Lancelot Royle	42.0 s	WR
2	Greece	Argyris Karagiannis Konstantinos Pantelidis Alexandros Papafingos Ioannis Talianos	46.1 s

The British team was able to undercut the world and Olympic records in the first run .

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	South African Union	Lawrence Betts George Dustan Howard Kinsman Christiaan Steyn	42.8 s
2	Canada	Laurence Armstrong Cyril Coaffee George Hester Anthony Vince	43.0 s
3	Spain	José María Larrabeiti Juan Junqueras Félix Mendizábal Diego Ordóñez	44.2 s

Forward 3

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Netherlands	Jaap Boot Harry Broos Jan de Vries Marinus van den Berge	42.0 s	WRe
2	Hungary	Ferenc Gerő Lajos Kurunczy László Muskát Gusztáv Rózsahegyi	42.6 s
3	Finland	Väinö Eskola Reijo Halme Lauri Härö Anton Husgafvel	42.6 s

Surprisingly, the Dutch ran the same time as the British team in Run 1 and thus set the world record .

Forward 4

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Switzerland	Karl Borner Heinz Hemmi Josef Imbach Victor Moriaud	42.2 s
2	Italy	Ernesto Bonacina Giovanni Frangipane Pietro Pastorino Enrico Torre	42.8 s
3	Argentina	Otto Diesch Félix Escobar Guillermo Newberry Camilo Rivas	44.0 s

Forward 5

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Sweden	Curt Branting Nils Engdahl Bror Österdahl Curt Wiberg	43.8 s
2	Denmark	Kai Jensen Poul Schiang Henri Thorsen Mogens Truelsen	44.0 s

Forward 6

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	United States	Louis Clarke Frank Hussey Al LeConey Loren Murchison	41.2 s	WR
2	France	Maurice Degrelle Albert Heisé André Mourlon René Mourlon	44.5 s

The US season improved the world record by eight tenths of a second.

Semifinals

Date: July 13, 1924

Run 1

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	United States	Louis Clarke Frank Hussey Al LeConey Loren Murchison	41.0 s	WR
2	Switzerland	Karl Borner Heinz Hemmi Josef Imbach Victor Moriaud	42.2 s
3	Canada	Laurence Armstrong Cyril Coaffee George Hester Anthony Vince	43.3 s
4th	Greece	Argyris Karagiannis Konstantinos Pantelidis Alexandros Papafingos Ioannis Talianos	45.2 s

In this first semifinal run, the US season improved its own world record from the run-up by two tenths of a second.

Run 2

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Great Britain	Harold Abrahams William Nichol Walter Rangeley Lancelot Royle	41.8 s
2	Hungary	Ferenc Gerő Lajos Kurunczy László Muskát Gusztáv Rózsahegyi	42.4 s
3	Italy	Ernesto Bonacina Giovanni Frangipane Pietro Pastorino Enrico Torre	42.9 s
4th	Denmark	Kai Jensen Poul Schiang Henri Thorsen Mogens Truelsen	43.8 s

Run 3

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Netherlands	Jaap Boot Harry Broos Jan de Vries Marinus van den Berge	42.2 s
2	France	Maurice Degrelle Albert Heisé André Mourlon René Mourlon	42.5 s
3	Sweden	Curt Branting Nils Engdahl Bror Österdahl Curt Wiberg	43.0 s
4th	South African Union	Lawrence Betts George Dustan Howard Kinsman Christiaan Steyn	43.6 s

final

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	United States	Frank Hussey Louis Clarke Al LeConey Loren Murchison	41.0 s	WRe
2	Great Britain	Harold Abrahams William Nichol Walter Rangeley Lancelot Royle	41.2 s
3	Netherlands	Jaap Boot Harry Broos Jan de Vries Marinus van den Berge	41.8 s
4th	Hungary	Ferenc Gerő Lajos Kurunczy László Muskát Gusztáv Rózsahegyi	42.0 s
5	France	Maurice Degrelle Albert Heisé André Mourlon René Mourlon	42.2 s
-	Switzerland	Karl Borner Heinz Hemmi Josef Imbach Victor Moriaud	DSQ

Date: July 13, 1924

In the final, the British were able to maintain the lead through Harold Abrahams, the Olympic champion over 100 meters , until the first change. The US starter Frank Hussey was behind, but then Louis Clarke, Al LeConey and Loren Murchison brought the clearly favored US season to a narrow victory. The US runners set their world record from the semifinals. Both the British, who were only two tenths of a second behind, and the Dutch, who were eight tenths of a second behind the US, improved their own times and stayed under 42 seconds.

The Dutch team won their first medal in the 4 x 100 meter relay .

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede : The History of Olympic Athletics. Volume 1: 1896-1936. 2nd Edition. Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin 1970, p. 174.

Web links

• SportsReference 4 × 100 m , accessed on September 7, 2017
• Official report pp. 156–158, French (PDF), accessed on September 7, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009, page 561 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Official report ( Memento of the original from April 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Pp. 156–158 in French (PDF) 
3. ↑ SportsReference (English)