1956 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 100 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 100 meter relay
gender	Men
Attendees	72 athletes from 18 countries
Competition location	Melbourne Cricket Ground
Competition phase	November 30, 1956 (prelims) December 1, 1956 (semifinals / finals)
Medalist  United States  URS  GER

The men's 4-by-100-meter relay at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne was played on November 30 and December 1, 1956 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground . 72 athletes took part in eighteen seasons.

The Olympic victory was secured by Ira Murchison , Leamon King , Thane Baker and Bobby Morrow for the US season with a new world record time ahead of the Soviet Union team with Leonid Bartenew , Boris Tokarew , Yuri Konovalov and Vladimir Sukharev . The German team won the bronze medal with Lothar Knörzer , Leonhard Pohl , Heinz Fütterer and Manfred Germar .

Swiss and Austrian relays did not take part.

Existing records

World record	39.8 s	USA ( Jesse Owens , Ralph Metcalfe , Foy Draper , Frank Wykoff )	Berlin , Germany	August 9, 1936
Olympic record			Final of Berlin , Germany

Conducting the competition

The relays competed on November 30th to four heats. The three best teams each qualified for the semi-finals on December 1st. From this, the three best teams each reached the final, which took place on the same day.

Note: The qualified relays are highlighted in light blue.

Time schedule

November 30th, 3:30 p.m .: Preliminaries
December
1st, 3:50 p.m . : Semi-finals December 1st, 4:35 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are local Melbourne time (UTC + 10)

Prelims

Date: November 30, 1956, from 3:30 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	United States	Ira Murchison Leamon King Thane Baker Bobby Morrow	40.5 s	40.53 s
2	Great Britain	Kenneth Box Roy Sandstrom David Segal Brian Shenton	41.2 s	41.30 s
3	Pakistan	Muhammad Sharif Butt Ghulam Raziq Abdul Aziz Abdul Khaliq	41.3 s	41.42 s
4th	Venezuela	Alfonso Bruno Apolinar Solórzano Clive Bonas Rafael Romero	42.0 s	42.10 s
5	Liberia	Edward Martins Emmanuel Putu George Johnson James Roberts	44.7 s	44.96 s

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Australia	Gavin Carragher Edward McGlynn Ray Land Hector Hogan	40.6 s	40.72 s
2	France	René Bonino Konstantin Lissenko Jocelyn Delecour Alain David	40.8 s	40.99 s
3	Germany	Lothar Knörzer Leonhard Pohl Heinz Fütterer Manfred Germar	40.8 s	41.00 s
4th	Thailand	Vinchak Voradilok Paiboon Vacharapan Montri Srinaka Sneh Wongchaoom	44.2 s	44.37 s

Forward 3

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Soviet Union	Leonid Bartenew Boris Tokarew Yuri Konovalov Vladimir Sukharev	40.7 s	40.77 s
2	Italy	Franco Galbiati Giovanni Ghiselli Luigi Gnocchi Vincenzo Lombardo	40.9 s	41.07 s
3	Brazil	João Pires Sobrinho José Telles da Conceição Ary de Sá Jorge de Barros	41.6 s	41.70 s
4th	Canada	Stan Levenson Dick Harding Jack Parrington Joe Foreman	41.7 s	41.75 s
5	Ethiopia	Beyene Legesse Bekele Haile Roba Negousse Abebe Hailou	44.3 s	44.47 s

Forward 4

The Nigerian squadron was the last to cross the finish line in 47.3 s (47.39 s) and was subsequently disqualified.

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Poland	Marian Foik Janusz Jarzembowski Edward Szmidt Zenon Baranowski	40.9 s	40.97 s
2	Hungary	Sándor Jakabfy Géza Varasdi György Csányi Béla Goldoványi	41.5 s	41.45 s
3	Japan	Masaji Tajima Kanji Akagi Akira Kiyofuji Kyohei Ushio	42.2 s	42.30 s
DSQ	Nigeria	Titus Erinle Rafiu Oluwa Edward Ajado Abdul Amu

Semifinals

Date: December 1, 1956, from 3:50 p.m.

Run 1

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	United States	Ira Murchison Leamon King Thane Baker Bobby Morrow	40.3 s	40.34 s
2	Poland	Marian Foik Janusz Jarzembowski Edward Szmidt Zenon Baranowski	41.0 s	41.12 s
3	Italy	Franco Galbiati Giovanni Ghiselli Luigi Gnocchi Vincenzo Lombardo	41.1 s	41.14 s
4th	France	René Bonino Konstantin Lissenko Jocelyn Delecour Alain David	41.3 s	41.37 s
5	Hungary	Sándor Jakabfy Géza Varasdi György Csányi Béla Goldoványi	41.5 s	41.51 s
6th	Brazil	João Pires Sobrinho José Telles da Conceição Ary de Sá Jorge de Barros	43.8 s	43.87 s

Run 2

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Soviet Union	Leonid Bartenew Boris Tokarew Yuri Konovalov Vladimir Sukharev	40.3 s	40.36 s
2	Germany	Lothar Knörzer Leonhard Pohl Heinz Fütterer Manfred Germar	40.5 s	40.64 s
3	Great Britain	Kenneth Box Roy Sandstrom David Segal Brian Shenton	40.6 s	40.68 s
4th	Australia	Gavin Carragher Edward McGlynn Ray Land Hector Hogan	40.8 s	40.72 s
5	Pakistan	Muhammad Sharif Butt Ghulam Raziq Abdul Aziz Abdul Khaliq	40.8 s	40.78 s
6th	Japan	Masaji Tajima Kanji Akagi Akira Kiyofuji Kyohei Ushio	41.3 s	41.57 s

final

space	Season	occupation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	United States	Ira Murchison Leamon King Thane Baker Bobby Morrow	39.5 s	39.60 s	WR
2	Soviet Union	Leonid Bartenew Boris Tokarew Yuri Konovalov Vladimir Sukharev	39.8 s	39.93 s
3	Germany	Lothar Knörzer Leonhard Pohl Heinz Fütterer Manfred Germar	40.3 s	40.34 s
4th	Italy	Franco Galbiati Giovanni Ghiselli Luigi Gnocchi Vincenzo Lombardo	40.3 s	40.43 s
5	Great Britain	Kenneth Box Roy Sandstrom David Segal Brian Shenton	40.6 s	40.74 s
6th	Poland	Marian Foik Janusz Jarzembowski Edward Szmidt Zenon Baranowski	40.6 s	40.75 s

Date: December 1, 1956, from 3:30 p.m.

The US season was the clear favorite. Bobby Morrow had won the individual races over 100 and 200 meters . The team's first two runners, Ira Murchison and Leamon King, put the US relay in the lead by a large margin. A weak move to Thane Baker brought the Soviets closer, but Morrow, who was suffering from a hip injury, was able to secure the gold medal in a world record time . Behind the USSR, the German team won the bronze medal. Manfred Germar, who started slightly injured, had to deal with Vincenzo Lombardo, the last runner in Italy, and defended third place.

In the tenth Olympic final, the US season ran to its ninth straight win.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 152f

Web links

• SportsReference 4 × 100 m , accessed on October 3, 2017
• Official report p. 315f, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 3, 2017
• Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games - Official Olympic Film | Olympic History , range 1:14:37 h - 1:16:08 h, published on July 22, 2015 on youtube.com, accessed on October 3, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009, page 561 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Official report p. 284, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 3, 2017
3. ↑ ^{a b} Official report p. 315, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 3, 2017
4. ↑ Official report p. 316, engl. (PDF), accessed on October 3, 2017
5. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)