1972 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 400 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 400 meter relay
gender	Men
Attendees	84 athletes from 22 countries
Competition location	Olympic Stadium Munich
Competition phase	September 9, 1972 (preliminary) September 10, 1972 (final)
Medalist  KEN  GBR  FRA

The men's 4-by-400-meter relay at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich was held on September 9 and 10, 1972 in the Munich Olympic Stadium. 84 athletes took part in the competition in 22 relays.

The Olympic victory was achieved by the Kenya relay team with the cast of Charles Asati , Munyoro Nyamau , Robert Ouko and Julius Sang . Silver won the British relay with Martin Reynolds , Alan Pascoe , David Hemery and David Jenkins , bronze went to France ( Gilles Bertould , Roger Velasquez , Francis Kerbiriou , Jacques Carette ). The relay of the Federal Republic of Germany - officially Germany - qualified for the final and finished fourth there. Relays from the GDR, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Existing records

World record	2: 56.16 min	USA ( Vince Matthews , Ron Freeman , Larry James , Lee Evans )	Mexico City , Mexico	20th October 1968
Olympic record			Mexico City Final , Mexico

Conducting the competition

The relays completed three preliminary heats on September 9, in which the two best and the following two fastest teams qualified for the final on September 10.

The directly qualified relays are highlighted in light blue, the others in light green.

Time schedule

September 9, 3:45 p.m .: Preliminaries
September 10, 4:10 p.m .: Final

Preliminary round

Date: September 9, 1972, from 3:45 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Great Britain	Martin Reynolds Alan Pascoe David Hemery David Jenkins	3: 01.26 min
2	Kenya	Charles Asati Munyoro Nyamau Robert Ouko Julius Sang	3: 01.27 min
3	Sweden	Erik Carlgren Kenth Öhman Ulf Rönner Anders Faager	3: 03.05 min
4th	Canada	Ian Gordon Brian MacLaren Craig Blackman Tony Powell	3: 04.22 min
5	Yugoslavia	Miro Kocuvan Laszlo Ubori Josip Alebić Milorad Čikić	3: 05.70 min
6th	Morocco	Omar Ghizlat Omar Chokhmane Salah Fettouh Mohamed Bouboud	3: 05.92 min
7th	Portugal	Fernando Silva Alberto Matos José Carvalho Fernando Mamede	3: 10.00 min

The US relay reported for this run could not take part due to a lack of eligible athletes. Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett , gold and silver medalists in the 400-meter individual race , had been banned by the IOC for their behavior during the award ceremony . In their place, Maurice Peoples and Tommy Turner were named to run alongside John Smith and Lee Evans . However, Smith had sustained a tendon injury during the individual competition and could not start. The USA had only three runners left for use in the relay. According to the regulations, late registrations were not possible with the consequence that the United States could not participate here.

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	BR Germany	Bernd Herrmann Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske Hermann Koehler Karl Honz	3: 03.27 min
2	Trinidad and Tobago	Edwin Roberts Charles Joseph Arthur Cooper Pat Marshall	3: 03.48 min
3	Nigeria	Musa Dogon Yaro Bruce Ijirighwo Mamman Makama Robert Ojo	3: 04.31 min
4th	Ethiopia	Tegegne Bezabeh Shoangizaw Worku Ketema Benti Mulugetta Tadesse	3: 08.59 min
5	Italy	Daniele Giovanardi Giacomo Puosi Lorenzo Cellerino Sergio Bello	3: 09.7 min
6th	Tanzania	Hamad Ndee Obedi Mwanga Omari Abdallah Claver Kamanya	3: 10.1 min
7th	Senegal	Omar Ba Abdou Mamadou Sow Samba Dièye Jean-Pierre Mango	3: 11.2 min
8th	Sudan	Mohamed Musa Gadou Dafallah Sultan Farah Ibrahim Saad Abdel Galil Angelo Hussein	3: 14.5 min

Forward 3

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Poland	Jan Werner Jan Balachowski Zbigniew Jaremski Andrzej Badeński	3: 02.52 min
2	Finland	Stig Lönnqvist Ari Salin Ossi Karttunen Markku Kukkoaho	3: 02.97 min
3	France	Gilles Bertould Roger Velasquez Francis Kerbiriou Jacques Carette	3: 03.13 min
4th	Jamaica	Leighton Priestley Kim Rowe Trevor Campbell Alfred Daley	3: 03.83 min
5	Venezuela	Raúl Dome Félix Pérez José Jacinto Hidalgo Eric Phillips	3: 06.99 min
6th	Malaysia	Tambusamy Krishnan Sinnayah Sabapathy Mohamed Hassan bin Osman Baba Singhe Peyadesa	3: 13.51 min
DNS	Pakistan

final

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Kenya	Charles Asati Munyoro Nyamau Robert Ouko Julius Sang	2: 59.83 min
2	Great Britain	Martin Reynolds Alan Pascoe David Hemery David Jenkins	3: 00.46 min
3	France	Gilles Bertould Roger Velasquez Francis Kerbiriou Jacques Carette	3: 00.65 min
4th	BR Germany	Bernd Herrmann Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske Hermann Koehler Karl Honz	3: 00.88 min
5	Poland	Jan Werner Jan Balachowski Zbigniew Jaremski Andrzej Badeński	3: 01.05 min
6th	Finland	Stig Lönnqvist Ari Salin Ossi Karttunen Markku Kukkoaho	3: 01.12 min
7th	Sweden	Erik Carlgren Anders Faager Kenth Öhman Ulf Rönner	3: 02.57 min
8th	Trinidad and Tobago	Arthur Cooper Pat Marshall Charles Joseph Edwin Roberts	3: 03.58 min

Date: September 10, 1972, 4:10 p.m.

After the US season could not participate in this competition, there was no clear favorite for the final. After the impressions from the 400-meter individual race and the relay prelims, v. a. Kenya, Great Britain, Germany, Trinidad and Tobago and Poland join the circle of medal contenders.

It was extremely tight and exciting throughout the race. Before the last change, six teams could only hope for a medal, separated from each other by narrow gaps. Hermann Köhler had put the German squadron in the lead and was the first to switch to Karl Honz. Behind him Andrzej Badeński took over the baton for Poland, Kenya and Great Britain, now with European Champion David Jenkins, were almost tied. Kenya's final runner Julius Sang was finally able to secure the Olympic victory for his relay with a lap of 43.5 seconds. The British won the silver medal. Honz had held the top position for a long time, but declined on the home straight and also had to let France's final runner Jacques Carette pass. France had only reached the final over time and now won bronze with 21 hundredths of a second behind the British. The German relay team crossed the finish line in fourth place another 23 hundredths of a second behind. There were only 3.75 seconds between first and eighth.

The Kenyan relay won the first Olympic victory in this discipline for their country.

literature

• Werner Schneider / Sport-Informations-Dienst / Bertelsmann Sportredaktion, The Olympic Games 1972. Munich - Kiel - Sapporo, Bertelsmann-Verlag, Munich, Gütersloh, Vienna 1972, ISBN 3-570-04559-5 , p. 36f

Video

• ✘ Munich 1972 4 x 400m relay [Kenya (amateur footage)], published August 16, 2017 on youtube.com, accessed November 23, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference 4 × 400 m , accessed on November 23, 2017
• Official report, Volume 3 "The competitions" , p. 58, English / French / German (PDF, 28 MB), accessed on November 23, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 562 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 23, 2017
2. ↑ Official Report, Volume 3 "The competitions" ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 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. , P. 43, English / French / German (PDF, 28 MB), accessed on November 23, 2017 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Official Report, Volume 3 "The competitions" ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 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. , P. 58, English / French / German (PDF, 28 MB), accessed on November 23, 2017 
4. ↑ SportsReference , accessed November 23, 2017