1980 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 400 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 400 meter relay
gender	Men
Attendees	97 athletes from 24 countries
Competition location	Luzhniki Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 31, 1980 (preliminary round) August 1, 1980 (final)
Medalist  URS  GDR  ITA

The men's 4 x 400 meter relay at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow was held on July 31 and August 1, 1980 in the Luzhniki Olympic Stadium. 97 athletes took part in 24 seasons.

Olympic champion was the relay of the Soviet Union with Remigijus Valiulis , Mikhail Linge , Nikolai Tschernezki and Viktor Markin . The silver medal went to the East German squadron ( Klaus Thiele , Andreas Knebel , Frank Schaffer , Volker Beck ), bronze to Italy with Stefano Malinverni , Mauro Zuliani , Roberto Tozzi and Pietro Mennea .

The Swiss relay was eliminated in the preliminary round.

Relays from Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part. The relay of the Federal Republic of Germany was also not there because of the Olympic boycott.

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 competed on July 31st for a total of three preliminary runs. The two best seasons as well as the two fastest teams below qualified for the final on August 1st.

Time schedule

July 31, 6:50 p.m .: Preliminary
August 1: Final

Note: All times are local Moscow time ( UTC + 3 ). The time of the finale is missing from the official report.

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

Preliminary round

Date: July 31, 1980, from 6:50 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Soviet Union	Nikolai Tschernezki Michail Linge Remigijus Valiulis Viktor Burakow	3: 01.8 min
2	Brazil	Paulo Roberto Correia Antônio Dias Ferreira Agberto Guimarães Geraldo José Pegado	3: 04.9 min
3	Yugoslavia	Željko Knapić Milovan Savić Rok Kopitar Josip Alebić	3: 05.3 min
4th	Poland	Jan Pawłowicz Jerzy Pietrzyk Adam Starostka Andrzej Stępień	3: 05.8 min
5	Netherlands	Peter Beusekom Mario Westbroek Marcel Klarenbeek Harry Schulting	3: 06.0 min	SportsReference names Henk Brouwer as the first runner .
6th	Spain	Isidoro Hornillos Colomán Trabado Benjamín González José Casabona	3: 06.9 min
7th	Zambia	Charles Lupiya Alston Muziyo Archfell Musango Davison Lishebo	3: 14.9 min
8th	Sierra Leone	William Akabi-Davis Jimmy Massallay Sahr Kendor George branch	3: 25.0 min

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	GDR	Klaus Thiele Andreas Knebel Frank Schaffer Volker Beck	3: 03.4 min
2	Czechoslovakia	Josef Lomický Dušan Malovec František Břečka Karel Kolář	3: 03.5 min
3	Italy	Stefano Malinverni Mauro Zuliani Roberto Tozzi Pietro Mennea	3: 03.5 min
4th	Trinidad and Tobago	Mike Solomon Rafer Mohammed Charles Joseph Joseph Coombs	3: 04.3 min
5	Uganda	Pius Olowo Charles Dramiga John Akii-Bua Silver Ayoo	3: 07.0 min
6th	Libya	Bashir Al-Fellah Salem El-Margini Ahmed Mohamed Sallouma El-Mehdi Sallah Diab	3: 16.7 min
7th	Ethiopia	Besha Tuffa Kumela Fituma Asfaw Deble Atre Bezabeh	3: 18.2 min
DNF	Belgium	Eddy De Leeuw Danny Roelandt Rik Vandenberghe Alfons Brydenbach

Forward 3

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	France	Jacques Fellice Robert Froissart Didier Dubois Francis Demarthon	3: 05.4 min
2	Great Britain	Alan Bell Terence Whitehead Roderick Milne Glen Cohen	3: 05.9 min
3	Switzerland	Rolf Strittmatter Peter Haas Rolf Gisler Urs Kamber	3: 07.2 min
4th	Iraq	Hussain Ali Nasayyif Hassan Kadhim Fahim Abdul Al-Sada Abbas Laibi	3: 10.5 min
5	Nigeria	Sunday Uti Hope EWEISbo Felix Imadiyi Dele Udo	3: 14.1 min
6th	Sri Lanka	Samararatne Dharmasena Kosala Sahabandu Newton Perera Appunidage Premachandra	3: 14.4 min
7th	Seychelles	Vincent Confait Régis Tranquille Marc Larose Casimir Pereira	3: 19.2 min
DNF	Jamaica	Derrick Peynado Colin Bradford Ian Stapleton Bert Cameron

final

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Soviet Union	Remigijus Valiulis Michail Linge Nikolai Chernetsky Viktor Markin	3: 01.08 min
2	GDR	Klaus Thiele Andreas Knebel Frank Schaffer Volker Beck	3: 01.26 min
3	Italy	Stefano Malinverni Mauro Zuliani Roberto Tozzi Pietro Mennea	3: 04.54 min
4th	France	Jacques Fellice Robert Froissart Didier Dubois Francis Demarthon	3: 04.8 min
5	Brazil	Paulo Roberto Correia Antônio Dias Ferreira Agberto Guimarães Geraldo José Pegado	3: 05.9 min
6th	Trinidad and Tobago	Joseph Coombs Charles Joseph Rafer Mohammed Mike Solomon	3: 06.6 min
7th	Czechoslovakia	Josef Lomický Dušan Malovec František Břečka Karel Kolář	3: 03.5 min
DNF	Great Britain	Alan Bell Terence Whitehead Roderick Milne Glen Cohen

Date: August 1, 1980

Because of the Olympic boycott, the Americans were not there. The highly rated squadrons of the Federal Republic of Germany and Kenya were also missing. This considerably diminished the importance and quality of this competition. Under these conditions, the favorites were the teams from Poland, the USSR and the GDR. But other teams were also eligible for the medals, the outcome seemed very open.

The 1980 regulations stated that the squadron line-up may not be changed after the heats for the final. There was an exception in the event of an injury. This was important for the Soviet relay, which surprisingly did not use their Olympic champion from the 400-meter individual run , Viktor Markin, in the run-up. Viktor Burakow, who had run there on the final position for the USSR, reported injured, so that Markin was allowed to play as a substitute runner in the final.

In this final, after the first change, Trinidad and Tobago were ahead of Great Britain, the GDR and the Soviet Union. On the next lap, the runners from the GDR and the USSR clearly set themselves apart from their competitors. When changing, the USSR led just ahead of the East Germans. The teams from France, Great Britain and Brazil followed at a considerable distance. The rest of the squadrons were still in this chasing group. When it was the turn of the final runners - Volker Beck for the GDR and Wiktor Markin for the Soviet Union - these two teams led by a long way before all the others. Markin prevailed in this duel, the USSR won the gold medal before the GDR. In the battle for third place, Italy was surprisingly ahead, with France and Brazil in fourth and fifth place.

The lack of the actual top nations in this competition was also noticeable in the performances. Moscow's victory time had been exceeded in all Olympic races since 1964 inclusive .

This was the first Olympic victory for the Soviet Union over 4 x 400 meters .

The relay teams from the GDR and Italy won the first medals for their countries in this discipline.

Video

• 4x400m Relay - 1980 Moscow Olympics , published August 23, 2016 on youtube.com, accessed December 29, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference 4 × 400 m , accessed on December 29, 2017
• Moscow 1980 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 42f, English / French (PDF, 28 MB), accessed on December 29, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ^ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 562 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Moscow 1980 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 17, English / French (PDF, 28 MB), accessed on December 29, 2017
3. ↑ ^{a b} Moscow 1980 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 43, English / French (PDF, 28 MB), accessed on December 29, 2017
4. ↑ ^{a b} SportsReference (English), accessed on December 29, 2017