1976 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 400 m (women)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 400 meter relay
gender	Women
Attendees	44 athletes from 11 countries
Competition location	Montreal Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 30, 1976 (preliminary) July 31, 1976 (final)
Medalists  GDR  United States  URS

The women's 4 x 400 meter relay at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal was held on July 30 and 31, 1976 in the Montreal Olympic Stadium. 44 athletes took part in eleven seasons.

The GDR relay team ( Doris Maletzki , Brigitte Rohde , Ellen Streidt , Christina Brehmer ) was the Olympic champion and set a new world record in the final . The silver medal went to the USA ( Debra Sapenter , Sheila Ingram , Pamela Jiles , Rosalyn Bryant ), the bronze medal to the Soviet Union squadron with Inta Kļimoviča , Lyudmila Aksjonowa , Natalja Sokolowa and Nadezhda Ilyina .

The team from the Federal Republic of Germany qualified for the final and came in fifth there.
Relays from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Existing records

World record	3: 22.95 min	GDR ( Dagmar Käsling , Rita Kühne , Helga Seidler , Monika Zehrt )	Munich , Federal Republic of Germany	September 10, 1972
Olympic record			Final of Munich , Federal Republic of Germany

Conducting the competition

The relays completed two preliminary heats on July 30th, in which the three best and the following two fastest teams qualified for the final on July 31st.

Time schedule

July 30th, 3:40 p.m .: Preliminary
July 31, 7:00 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are local Montreal time ( UTC − 5 )

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

Preliminary round

Date: July 30, 1976, from 3:40 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Soviet Union	Inta Kļimoviča Lyudmila Aksjonowa Natalja Sokolowa Nadezhda Ilyina	3: 24.54 min
2	United States	Debra Sapenter Sheila Ingram Pamela Jiles Rosalyn Bryant	3: 25.15 min
3	Finland	Pirjo Häggman Marika Lindholm Mona-Lisa Pursiainen Riitta Salin	3: 26.30 min
4th	BR Germany	Claudia Steger Rita Wilden Dagmar Fuhrmann Elke Barth	3: 26.31 min
DSQ	Jamaica	Helen Blake Carol Cummings Jacqueline Pusey Ruth Williams-Simpson

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	GDR	Doris Maletzki Brigitte Rohde Ellen Streidt Christina Brehmer	3: 23.38 min
2	Australia	Judy Canty Verna Burnard Bethanie Nail Charlene Rendina	3: 25.98 min
3	Great Britain	Liz Barnes Gladys Taylor Verona Elder Donna Murray	3: 27.09 min
4th	Canada	Margaret Stride Joyce Yakubowich Rachelle Campbell Yvonne Saunders	3: 28.81 min
5	Bulgaria	Jordanka Iwanowa Svetla Slatewa Iwanka Bonowa Liljana Tomowa	3: 31.08 min
6th	Belgium	Lea Alaerts Regine Berg Anne-Marie Van Nuffel Rita Thijs	3: 32.87 min

final

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	GDR	Doris Maletzki Brigitte Rohde Ellen Streidt Christina Brehmer	3: 19.23 min	WR
2	United States	Debra Sapenter Sheila Ingram Pamela Jiles Rosalyn Bryant	3: 22.81 min
3	Soviet Union	Inta Kļimoviča Lyudmila Aksjonowa Natalja Sokolowa Nadezhda Ilyina	3: 24.24 min
4th	Australia	Judy Canty Verna Burnard Charlene Rendina Bethanie Nail	3: 25.56 min
5	BR Germany	Claudia Steger Dagmar Fuhrmann Elke Barth Rita Wilden	3: 25.71 min
6th	Finland	Marika Lindholm Pirjo Häggman Mona-Lisa Pursiainen Riitta Salin	3: 25.87 min
7th	Great Britain	Liz Barnes Gladys Taylor Verona Elder Donna Murray	3: 28.01 min
8th	Canada	Margaret Stride Joyce Yakubowich Rachelle Campbell Yvonne Saunders	3: 28.91 min

Date: July 31, 1976, 7:00 p.m.

The top favorite was the GDR relay, which came as the 1972 Olympic champion and world record holder . The only halfway serious competitor in the race for gold were the Americans, who with Rosalyn Bryant, Sheila Ingram and Debra Sapenter were the only nation to bring all three starters into the individual final over 400 meters . Behind them the Vice European Champions from 1974 from Finland, the USSR, Poland and Australia offered themselves as contenders for further top positions.

In the final, the GDR relay, which had competed with the silver and bronze medalists from the 400-meter individual competition, fully lived up to its role as favorites. The runners reached the finish line with a lead of more than four and a half seconds and were the first team in the world to stay below the 3:20 mark. The US-Americans were clearly beaten, but also undercut the previously existing world record and won the silver medal before the relay from the USSR. Places four to six went to Australia, the Federal Republic of Germany and Finland.

literature

• Ernst Huberty / Willy B. Wange, The Olympic Games Montreal Innsbruck 1976, Lingen-Verlag, Cologne 1976, pp. 254f

Video

• 1976 Olympics Women's 4 × 400 meters relay. World Record.mp4 , published June 29, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed December 20, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference 4 × 400 m ,
• Montréal 1976 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 41, English / French (PDF, 23 MB), accessed on December 20, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 651 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on 20 December 2017
2. ↑ Montréal 1976 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 23, English / French (PDF, 23 MB), accessed on December 20, 2017
3. ↑ ^{a b} Montréal 1976 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 41, English / French (PDF, 23 MB), accessed on December 20, 2017
4. ↑ SportsReference , accessed December 20, 2017