1984 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 400 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 400 meter relay
gender	Men
Attendees	113 athletes from 26 countries
Competition location	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Competition phase	August 10, 1984 (preliminary and semi-finals) August 11, 1984 (final)
Medalist  United States  GBR  NGR

The men's 4-by-400-meter relay at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles was held on August 10 and 11, 1984 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . 113 athletes took part in 26 registered and 25 started relays.

The US season with Sunder Nix , Ray Armstead , Alonzo Babers and Antonio McKay was Olympic champion. The silver medal went to Great Britain with Kriss Akabusi , Garry Cook , Todd Bennett and Philip Brown , and bronze to Nigeria ( Sunday Uti , Moses Ugbisie , Rotimi Peters , Innocent Egbunike ).

The season of the BR Germany was eliminated in the semifinals.
Relays from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part. The GDR season was also not there because of the Olympic boycott.

Current title holders

Olympic champion 1980	Soviet Union ( Remigijus Valiulis , Michail Linge , Nikolai Tschernezki , Wiktor Markin )	3: 01.08 min	Moscow 1980
World Champion 1983	Soviet Union ( Sergei Lowatschow , Aljaksandr Trashchyla , Nikolai Tschernezki , Viktor Markin )	3: 00.79 min	Helsinki 1983
European Champion 1982	BR Germany ( Erwin Skamrahl , Harald Schmid , Thomas Giessing , Hartmut Weber )	3: 00.51 min	Athens 1982
Pan American Champion 1983	USA ( Alonzo Babers , Mike Bradley , James Rolle , Eddie Carey )	3: 00.27 min	Caracas 1983
Central America and Caribbean Champion 1983	Cuba	3: 05.12 min	Havana 1983
South America Champion 1983	Brazil (Paulo Correia, Evaldo da Silva, José Luíz Barbosa , Sérgio Menezes)	3: 10.8 min	Santa Fe 1983
Asian champion 1983	Iraq	3: 07.98 min	Kuwait City 1983
African champions 1982	Kenya	3: 05.61 min	Cairo 1982

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

Preliminary round

Date: August 10, 1984

In the preliminary round, the 26 relays were drawn in four runs. The first three seasons of each run qualified for the semi-finals. Furthermore, the four fastest times, the so-called lucky losers , advanced. The directly qualified relays are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

The USA relay achieved the fastest lead time with 3: 01.44 min in run 4. The slowest directly qualified relay was the team from Trinidad and Tobago in run 1 with 3: 06.81 min. The fastest relay that could not qualify was the relay of France with 3: 08.33 min in run 2.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Australia	Darren Clark Gary Minihan Peter Van Miltenburg Rick Mitchell	3: 03.72 min
2	Canada	Michael Sokolowski Douglas Hinds Brian Saunders Timothy Béthune	3: 04.47 min
3	Trinidad and Tobago	Anton Skerritt Michael Puckerin Derek Archer Michael Paul	3: 06.81 min
4th	Sweden	Lauri Tommy Johansson Eric Josjö Christer Gullstrand Thomas Nyberg	3: 07.32 min
5	Japan	Shigenori Omori Ryoichi Yoshida Hiroki Fuwa Susumu Takano	3: 08.16 min
6th	Mozambique	Leonardo Loforte Pedro Gonçalvo André Titos Henrique Ferreira	3: 08.95 min
7th	United Arab Emirates	Rashid Al-Jirbi Khamis Ibrahim Khamis Mubarak Ismail Ibrahim Aziz	3: 19.90 min

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Great Britain	Kriss Akabusi Garry Cook Todd Bennett Philip Brown	3: 06.10 min
2	Italy	Roberto Ribaud Ernesto Nocco Mauro Zuliani Donato Sabia	3: 06.28 min
3	Uganda	John Goville Moses Kyeswa Peter Rwamuhanda Mike Okot	3: 06.65 min
4th	France	Yann Quentrec Didier Dubois Jacques Fellice Aldo Canti	3: 08.33 min
5	Antigua and Barbuda	Alfred Browne Larry Miller Howard Lindsay Dale Jones	3: 10.95 min
6th	British Virgin Islands	Guy Hill Jeremy Molyneaux Dean Greenaway Lindel Hodge	3: 11.89 min
7th	Cameroon	Ernest Tché-Noubossie Jean-Pierre Abossolo-Ze Barnabé Messomo Mama Moluh	3: 16.00 min

Forward 3

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Barbados	Richard Louis David Peltier Clyde Edwards Elvis Forde	3: 03.31 min
2	BR Germany	Martin Weppler Uwe Andreas Schmitt Thomas Giessing Erwin Skamrahl	3: 03.33 min
3	Ivory Coast	Georges Kablan Degnan Avognan Nogboun René Djédjémél Gabriel Tiacoh	3: 03.50 min
4th	Jamaica	Stephen Griffiths Mark Senior Dennis Wallace Devon Morris	3: 03.85 min
5	Brazil	João Batista da Silva José Luíz Barbosa Antônio Dias Ferreira Gérson de Souza	3: 05.08 min
DSQ	Senegal	Boubacar Diallo Babacar Niang Moussa Case Amadou Dia Ba
DNS	Sierra Leone

Forward 4

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	United States	Willie Smith Ray Armstead Alonzo Babers Walter Lee McCoy	3: 01.44 min
2	Kenya	John Anzrah Simon Kitur Jason Opicho Elijah Sogomo	3: 06.07 min
3	Nigeria	Sunday Uti Moses Ugbisie Rotimi Peters Innocent Egbunike	3: 06.34 min
4th	Spain	Manuel González Solanes Benjamin González Antonio Sánchez Ángel Heras	3: 08.79 min
5	Oman	Barakat Al-Sharji Mohamed Al-Hashimi Abdullah Sulaiman Al-Akbary Mohamed Amer Al-Malky	3: 15.87 min

Semifinals

Date: August 10, 1984

In each of the two semi-finals, the first four seasons (highlighted in light blue) qualified for the final.

Changes were made to the line-up of seven teams:

• USA: Sunder Nix and Antonio McKay for Ray Armstead and Alonzo Babers
• FRG: Jörg Vaihinger for Thomas Giessing
• AUS: Bruce Frayne for Rick Mitchell
• ITA: Roberto Tozzi for Mauro Zuliani
• BRA: Wilson David Santos for Antônio Dias Ferreira
• JAM: Karl Smith for Dennis Wallace
• KEN: David Kitur for Simon Kitur

A protest against the scoring of the first run was submitted and later rejected. The US runner Walter McCoy had run a few meters on the wrong track. The referees saw this as unintentional, especially since no other runners were hindered by it and the US relay had not gained a decisive advantage.

The USA achieved the best time in the semifinals with 3: 00.19 minutes in run 1.

Run 1

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	United States	Sunder Nix Walter Lee McCoy Willie Smith Antonio McKay	3:00, 19 min
2	Great Britain	Kriss Akabusi Garry Cook Todd Bennett Philip Brown	3: 02.98 min
3	Canada	Michael Sokolowski Douglas Hinds Brian Saunders Timothy Béthune	3: 03.93 min
4th	Uganda	John Goville Moses Kyeswa Peter Rwamuhanda Mike Okot	3: 04.02 min
5	BR Germany	Martin Weppler Uwe Andreas Schmitt Jörg Vaihinger Erwin Skamrahl	3: 04.69 min
6th	Ivory Coast	Georges Kablan Degnan Avognan Nogboun René Djédjémél Gabriel Tiacoh	3: 04.87 min
7th	Sweden	Lauri Tommy Johansson Eric Josjö Christer Gullstrand Thomas Nyberg	3: 09.40 min
8th	Japan	Shigenori Omori Ryoichi Yoshida Hiroki Fuwa Susumu Takano	3: 10.73 min

Run 2

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	Nigeria	Sunday Uti Moses Ugbisie Rotimi Peters Innocent Egbunike	3: 02.22 min
2	Australia	Peter Van Miltenburg Gary Minihan Bruce Frayne Darren Clark	3: 03.79 min
3	Italy	Roberto Tozzi Ernesto Nocco Roberto Ribaud Donato Sabia	3: 03.87 min
4th	Barbados	Richard Louis David Peltier Clyde Edwards Elvis Forde	3: 03.89 min
5	Brazil	João Batista da Silva Wilson David Santos José Luíz Barbosa Gérson de Souza	3: 03.99 min
6th	Jamaica	Stephen Griffiths Mark Senior Karl Smith Devon Morris	3: 04.24 min
7th	Kenya	John Anzrah David Kitur Jason Opicho Elijah Sogomo	3: 04.74 min
DSQ	Trinidad and Tobago	Anton Skerritt Michael Puckerin Derek Archer Michael Paul

final

Scene from the finale: Ray Armstead (left) hands over the season to Alonzo Babers

space	Season	occupation	time	annotation
1	United States	Sunder Nix Ray Armstead Alonzo Babers Antonio McKay	2: 57.91 min
2	Great Britain	Kriss Akabusi Garry Cook Todd Bennett Philip Brown	2: 59.13 min
3	Nigeria	Sunday Uti Moses Ugbisie Rotimi Peters Innocent Egbunike	2: 59.32 min
4th	Australia	Bruce Frayne Darren Clark Gary Minihan Rick Mitchell	2: 59.70 min
5	Italy	Roberto Tozzi Ernesto Nocco Roberto Ribaud Pietro Mennea	3: 01.44 min
6th	Barbados	Richard Louis David Peltier Clyde Edwards Elvis Forde	3: 1.60 min
7th	Uganda	John Goville Moses Kyeswa Peter Rwamuhanda Mike Okot	3: 02.09 min
8th	Canada	Michael Sokolowski Douglas Hinds Brian Saunders Timothy Béthune	3: 02.82 min

Date: August 11, 1984

In the final, line-up changes were made in three teams. The US replaced Walter Lee McCoy with Ray Armstead and Willie Smith with Alonzo Babers. Australia swapped Rick Mitchell for Peter Van Miltenburg and in Italy Pietro Mennea ran for Donato Sabia.

The US season was the clear favorite, especially in front of the home crowd. However, the pace of the first round was set by the Nigerians, who moved ahead of Australia, USA, Italy and Great Britain. Darren Clark put Australia in the front on the second substitution. The USA had moved up to second place ahead of Nigeria and the British. Alonzo Babers brought the Americans to the top on his lap. On the final section, Antonio McKay secured the US victory. Philip Brown had put the British season in second place, which won the silver medal. Nigeria was also able to overtake the Australians, who had been third up to that point, and won bronze. Italy, Barbados, Uganda and Canada came in behind Australia. The world record was not achieved in this competition, but it was a high quality race. The first four seasons undercut the three-minute mark. Four years earlier, not a single team had managed that. In 1976 and 1972 , the winning season alone ran under three minutes.

Alonzo Babers won his second gold medal in Los Angeles after his 400m win . In the sixteenth Olympic final there was the eleventh US victory. Nigeria won the first medal in this discipline.

literature

• Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles Sarajevo with contributions by Ulrich Kaiser and Heinz Maegerlein , eds. Manfred Vorderwülbecke , C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-570-01851-2 , p. 24f

Web links

• SportsReference 4 × 400 m , accessed on January 9, 2018
• Los Angeles 1984 Official Report, 3, Results of the Games , p. 284f, English / French (PDF, 11 MB), accessed on January 9, 2018

Video

• Men's 4 x 400m Relay Final at LA Olympics in 1984 , posted June 17, 2015 on youtube.com, accessed January 9, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 684 , accessed on January 9, 2018
2. ↑ Los Angeles 1984 Official Report, 3, Results of the Games , p. 284, English / French (PDF, 11 MB), accessed on January 9, 2018
3. ↑ Los Angeles 1984 Official Report, 3, Results of the Games , pp. 284f, English / French (PDF, 11 MB), accessed on January 9, 2018
4. ↑ Los Angeles 1984 Official Report, 3, Results of the Games , p. 285, English / French (PDF, 11 MB), accessed on January 9, 2018
5. ↑ SportsReference 4 × 400 m , accessed on January 9, 2018