1928 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 400 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 400 meter relay
gender	Men
Attendees	56 athletes from 14 countries
Competition location	Olympic Stadium Amsterdam
Competition phase	August 4th, 1928 (preliminary) August 5th, 1928 (final)
Medalist  United States  DEU  CAN

The men's 4 x 400 meter relay at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam was held on August 4th and 5th, 1928 in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam . 56 athletes took part in 14 relays.

The US relay won the gold medal in a new world record time with runners George Baird , Fred Alderman , Emerson Spencer and Ray Barbuti . Silver went to Germany with Otto Neumann , Harry Werner Storz , Richard Krebs and Hermann Engelhard , bronze to Canada with James Ball , Stanley Glover , Phil Edwards and Alex Wilson .

Existing records

• World record : 3: 16.0 min - USA ( Commodore Cochran , William Stevenson , Oliver MacDonald , Alan Helffrich ), Paris , July 13, 1924
• Olympic record : 3: 16.0 min - USA ( Commodore Cochran , William Stevenson , Oliver MacDonald , Alan Helffrich ), Paris final , July 13, 1924

Conducting the competition

The relays competed on August 4 for three preliminary races. The two best teams each qualified for the final, which was held on August 5th.

Note: The qualified relays are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

Date: August 4, 1928

Not all times have been passed down.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	United States	George Baird Fred Alderman Emerson Spencer Ray Barbuti	3: 21.4 min
2	Canada	James Ball Stanley Glover Phil Edwards Alex Wilson	3: 22.0 min
3	Hungary	Mór Gerő László Magdics László Barsi Antal Odri	3: 23.2 min
4th	Poland	Feliks Malanowski Zygmunt Weiss Stefan Kostrzewski Klemens Biniakowski	3: 24.2 min
5	Belgium	Philippe Coenjaerts Émile Vercken François Prinsen Émile Langenraedt	k. A.

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	German Empire	Otto Neumann Harry Werner Storz Richard Krebs Hermann Engelhard	3: 20.8 min
2	Sweden	Björn Kugelberg Bertil von Wachenfeldt Erik Byléhn Sten Pettersson	3: 21.2 min
3	Italy	Giacomo Carlini Luigi Facelli Guido Cominotto Ettore Tavernari	3: 22.6 min
4th	Netherlands	Andries Hoogerwerf Adriaan Paulen Harry Broos Marinus van den Berge	k. A.
5	Czechoslovakia	Johann Bartl Karel Kněnický Vilém Šindler Jaroslav Vykoupil
6th	Greece	Stelios Benardis Renos Frangoudis Vangelis Moiropoulos Vasilios Stavrinos

Forward 3

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Great Britain	Roger Leigh-Wood William Craner John Rinkel Douglas Lowe	3: 20.6 min
2	France	Georges Krotoff Joseph Jackson Georges Dupont René Féger	3: 23.0 min
3	Mexico	Alfonso García José Lucílo Iturbe Jesús Moraila Víctor Villaseñor	3: 23.4 min

final

The US season won gold: Ray Barbuti, Emerson Spencer, Fred Alderman and George Baird (from left to right)

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	United States	George Baird Fred Alderman Emerson Spencer Ray Barbuti	3: 14.2 min	WR
2	German Empire	Otto Neumann Harry Werner Storz Richard Krebs Hermann Engelhard	3: 14.8 min
3	Canada	James Ball Stanley Glover Phil Edwards Alex Wilson	3: 15.4 min
4th	Sweden	Björn Kugelberg Bertil von Wachenfeldt Erik Byléhn Sten Pettersson	3: 15.8 min
5	Great Britain	Roger Leigh-Wood William Craner John Rinkel Douglas Lowe	3: 16.4 min
6th	France	Georges Krotoff Joseph Jackson Georges Dupont René Féger	3: 19.4 min

Date: August 5, 1928

Over 4 times 400 meters there was the same result in places one and two as already over 4 times 100 meters . However, the course of the race was very different. The Americans were the dominant season from the start and left no doubt as to who would win. There was a duel for the silver medal between Germany and Canada. Starting runner Otto Neumann switched to second place just before the Canadian Alex Wilson. Phil Edwards then passed Richard Krebs, who was able to regain second position shortly before the move. Harry Storz defended this position against Stanley Glover before the German final runner Hermann Engelhard, Olympic knight over 800 meters , broke away from the Canadian Olympic runner-up over 400 meters James Ball at the end of the race . Engelhard even seemed to be able to attack the US final runner Raymond Barbuti again. But this accelerated again pretty easily and so the medals were distributed. With 3: 14.2 min there was a new world record for the USA, the first four seasons undercut the previous world record of 3: 14.0 min.

Germany and Canada won the first medals in this discipline.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 212f

Web links

• SportsReference 4 × 400 m relay , accessed on September 13, 2017
• Official report pp. 465–466, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 13, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ^ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 562 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 212f