1996 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 4 × 100 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	4 x 100 meter relay
gender	Men
Attendees	154 athletes from 37 countries
Competition location	Centennial Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 2, 1996 (preliminary round / semi-finals) August 3, 1996 (final)
Medalist  CAN  United States  BRA

The men's 4-by-100-meter relay at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta was played on August 2 and 3, 1996 at the Centennial Olympic Stadium . 154 athletes took part in 36 relays.

Olympic champion was the relay of Canada with Robert Esmie , Glenroy Gilbert , Bruny Surin and Donovan Bailey . They had also used Carlton Chambers in advance . The silver medal went to the USA in the cast Jon Drummond , Tim Harden , Michael Marsh and Dennis Mitchell . Tim Montgomery was also there in the run-up . Brazil won bronze ( Arnaldo da Silva , Robson da Silva , Édson Ribeiro , André da Silva ).
The runners used in the heats for the medal winners also received corresponding precious metal.

The German relay qualified for the semi-finals, but could not finish their run there.
The Austrian team failed in the preliminary round.
Teams from Switzerland and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current title holders

Olympic champion 1992	United States	37.40 s	Barcelona 1992
World Champion 1995	Canada	38.31 s	Gothenburg 1995
European Champion 1994	France	38.57 s	Helsinki 1994
Pan American champion 1995	Cuba	38.67 s	Mar del Plata 1995
Central America and Caribbean champions 1995		39.07 s	Guatemala City 1995
South American Champion 1995	Brazil	39.42 s	Manaus 1995
Asian champion 1995	People's Republic of China	39.49 s	Jakarta 1995
African champion 1996	Nigeria	39.7 s	Yaoundé 1996
Oceania Champion 1994	New Zealand	41.57 s	Auckland 1994

Existing records

World record	37.40 s	USA ( Michael Marsh , Leroy Burrell , Dennis Mitchell , Carl Lewis )	Barcelona , Spain	August 8, 1992
Olympic record			Final of Barcelona , Spain

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

Preliminary round

August 2, 1996, from 9:15 a.m.

The relays were drawn in five runs. The first two teams qualified for the semi-finals per run. In addition, the six fastest drivers, the so-called lucky losers , made it through. The directly qualified teams are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Ukraine	Kostjantyn Rurak Sergey Osovic Oleg Kramarenko Wladyslaw Dolohodin	38.90
2	Brazil	Arnaldo da Silva Robson da Silva Édson Ribeiro André da Silva	38.97
3	Ghana	Aziz Zakari Christian Nsiah Albert Agyemang Emmanuel Tuffour	39.47
	Nigeria	Deji Aliu Osmond Ezinwa Francis Obikwelu Davidson Ezinwa
5	Cameroon	Alfred Moussambani Benjamin Sirimou Issa-Aimé Nthépé Claude Toukéné-Guébogo	39.81
6th	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	Erasto Sampson Joell Mascoll Eswort Coombs Kahlil Cato	40.54
7th	Mauritius	Arnaud Casquette Dominique Meyepa Bruno Potanah Barnabé Jolicoeur	40.92
8th	Laos	Poutavanh Phengthalangsy Thongdy Amnouayphone Sisomphone Vongpharkdy Souliyasak Ketkeolatsami	44.14

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Canada	Carlton Chambers Glenroy Gilbert Bruny Surin Donovan Bailey	38.68
2	Germany	Michael Huke Marc Blume Andreas Ruth Florian Schwarthoff	38.77
3	Sierra Leone	Pierre Lisk Tom Ganda Josephus Thomas Sanusi Turay	38.98
4th	St. Kitts and Nevis	Ricardo Liddie Bertram Haynes Kim Collins Alain Maxime Isiah	40.12
5	Equatorial Guinea	Ponciano Mbomio Casimiro Asumu Nze Bonifacio Edu Gustavo Envela	45.63
DNF	Papua New Guinea	Allan Akia Peter Pulu Amos Ali Subul Babo
DSQ	Japan	Hiroyasu Tsuchie Koji Ito Satoru Inoue Nobuharu Asahara
DNS	New Zealand	Chris Donaldson Mark Keddell Gus Nketia Matthew Coad

Forward 3

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)	annotation
1	United States	Jon Drummond Tim Harden Tim Montgomery Dennis Mitchell	38.58
2	Sweden	Peter Karlsson Torbjörn Eriksson Lars Hedner Patrik Strenius	39.02
3	Bahamas	Renward Wells Joseph Styles Iram Lewis Andrew Tynes	39.38
4th	Thailand	Sayan Namwong Worasit Vechaphut Kongdech Natanee Ekkachai Janthana	39.80
5	Fiji	Solomone Bole Jone Delai Henry Semiti Soloveni Nakaunicina	40.23
DNF	Great Britain	Tony Jarrett Darren Braithwaite Darren Campbell Owusu Dako
DNS	Qatar

Forward 4

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Jamaica	Percival Spencer Michael Green Leon Gordon Raymond Stewart	39.21
2	Spain	Frutos Feo Venancio José Jordi Mayoral Francisco Navarro	39.35
3	Ivory Coast	Frank Waota Ahmed Douhou Éric Pacôme N'Dri Ibrahim Meité	39.43
4th	Togo	Teko Folligan Boeviyoulou Lawson Justin Ayassou Kossi Akoto	39.56
5	Gabon	Patrick Mocci-Raoumbé Antoine Boussombo Charles Tayot Éric Ebang	39.97
6th	Benin	Arcadius Fanou Pascal Dangbo Issa Alassane Ousseni Eric Agueh	40.79
7th	Gambia	Momodou Sarr Dawda Jallow Cherno Sowe Pa Modou Gai	41.80
DNF	Italy	Giovanni Puggioni Ezio Madonia Angelo Cipolloni Sandro Floris

Forward 5

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Australia	Paul Henderson Tim Jackson Steve Brimacombe Rodney Mapstone	38.93
2	France	Hermann Lomba Regis Groisard Pascal Théophile Needy Guims	39.00
3	Cuba	Joel Isasi Joel Lamela Iván García Luis Alberto Pérez	39.14
4th	Austria	Martin Schützenauer Martin Lachkovics Thomas Griesser Christoph Pöstinger	39.80
5	Cyprus	Loucas Spyrou Anninos Markoullidis Prodromos Katsantonis Yiannis Zisimides	40.06
6th	Liberia	Kouty Mawenh Sayon Cooper Edward Dosa-Wea Neufville Robert Dennis	40.18
7th	British Virgin Islands	Ralston Varlack Keita Cline Willis Todman Mario Todman	41.26
DSQ	Greece	Alexandros Genovelis Thomas Sbokos Georgios Panagiotopoulos Alexandros Alesopoulos

Semifinals

2nd August 1996

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

Run 1

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Canada	Carlton Chambers Glenroy Gilbert Bruny Surin Donovan Bailey	38.36
2	Brazil	Arnaldo da Silva Robson da Silva Édson Ribeiro André da Silva	38.42
3	Ukraine	Kostjantyn Rurak Sergey Osovic Oleg Kramarenko Wladyslaw Dolohodin	38.56
4th	Ghana	Aziz Zakari Eric Nkansah Albert Agyemang Emmanuel Tuffour	38.62
5	Sierra Leone	Pierre Lisk Tom Ganda Josephus Thomas Sanusi Turay	38.91
6th	Spain	Frutos Feo Venancio José Jordi Mayoral Francisco Navarro	38.91
7th	Ivory Coast	Frank Waota Ahmed Douhou Éric Pacôme N'Dri Ibrahim Meité	39.43
DNF	Germany	Michael Huke Marc Blume Holger Blume Florian Schwarthoff

The following cast changes have been made.

• Ghana - Eric Nkansah ran for Christian Nsiah
• Germany –Holger Blume replaced Andreas Ruth

Run 2

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)	annotation
1	United States	Jon Drummond Tim Harden Tim Montgomery Dennis Mitchell	37.96
2	Cuba	Joel Isasi Joel Lamela Iván García Luis Alberto Pérez	38.55
3	Sweden	Peter Karlsson Torbjörn Martensson Lars Hedner Patrik Strenius	38.63
4th	France	Hermann Lomba Regis Groisard Pascal Théophile Needy Guims	38.82
DNF	Nigeria	Deji Aliu Osmond Ezinwa Francis Obikwelu Davidson Ezinwa
DSQ	Australia	Paul Henderson Tim Jackson Steve Brimacombe Rodney Mapstone
	Bahamas	Renward Wells Joseph Styles Iram Lewis Andrew Tynes
	Jamaica	Leon Gordon Michael Green Percival Spencer Raymond Stewart

The following changes were made:

In Sweden, Torbjörn Martensson ran for Torbjörn Eriksson.

final

space	Season	occupation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Canada	Robert Esmie Glenroy Gilbert Bruny Surin Donovan Bailey in the preliminary also: Carlton Chambers	37.69
2	United States	Jon Drummond Tim Harden Michael Marsh Dennis Mitchell in the heats also: Tim Montgomery	38.05
3	Brazil	Arnaldo da Silva Robson da Silva Édson Ribeiro André da Silva	38.41
4th	Ukraine	Kostjantyn Rurak Sergey Osovic Oleg Kramarenko Wladyslaw Dolohodin	38.55
5	Sweden	Peter Karlsson Torbjörn Martensson Lars Hedner Patrik Strenius	38.67
6th	Cuba	Andrés Simón Joel Lamela Joel Isasi Luis Alberto Pérez in the preliminary also: Iván García	39.39
DNF	France	Hermann Lomba Regis Groisard Pascal Théophile Needy Guims
DSQ	Ghana	Aziz Zakari Christian Nsiah Albert Agyemang Emmanuel Tuffour		Disqualification before the start

August 3, 1996

The favorite was the US relay, which was the 1992 Olympic champion and world record holder . As their strongest opponent started the Canadian world championship team from 1995, which had called the 100 meter winner Donovan Bailey as the final runner. In the race for the other medals the chances were divided between a number of nations, so predictions were difficult.

In the US team there was a discussion about a possible start of Carl Lewis , who had won the long jump competition in Atlanta and was now a nine-time Olympic champion. With a start in the relay and a possible gold medal there, Lewis could have become the most successful athlete in Olympic history with ten Olympic victories. But he had not been able to qualify for the 100-meter run in the US Olympic qualifications and had not participated in the relay's compulsory training camp. After his long jump victory, he brought himself up for discussion as a relay runner, but was still not placed.

There were three cast changes in total:

• Canada - Robert Esmie ran in place of Carlton Chambers
• USA - Michael Marsh replaced Tim Montgomery
• Cuba - Andrés Simón ran for Iván García.

The Ghanaian team was disqualified immediately before the start of the final run because one of their runners - Christian Nsiah - had taken part in the first round but not in the semi-finals. The athletes from Ghana had already warmed up and taken their positions at the start and on the bills of exchange when the referee showed them the red card. They had to vacate their seats and were not allowed to start. The underlying rule was repealed in 2007.

In the finale, the Canadian season presented itself excellently from the start. After the second change, a clear lead was already visible. Final runner Bailey took over the baton with a two-meter lead over US runner Dennis Mitchell. The Canadian increased his lead on the home straight to four meters, which meant gold for Canada and silver for the USA. The bronze medalist was Brazil, ahead of Ukraine, Sweden and Cuba. The French relay had meanwhile given up on the race.

The Canadian relay was the first Olympic champion in this discipline.

Brazil won the first medal in the 4 x 100 meter relay .

literature

• Gerd Rubenbauer (ed.), Olympic Summer Games Atlanta 1996 with reports by Britta Kruse, Johannes Ebert, Andreas Schmidt and Ernst Christian Schütt, comments: Gerd Rubenbauer and Hans Schwarz, Chronik Verlag im Bertelsmann Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 1996, p. 31

Web links

• SportsReference 4 × 100 m , accessed on March 2, 2018
• Official Report, Part III on the Olympic Games in Atlanta , p. 86, English / French (PDF, 13,520 MB), accessed on March 2, 2018

Video

• Men's 4x100m Relay Final Atlanta Olympics 1996 , posted June 22, 2016 on youtube.com, accessed March 2, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 683 , accessed on March 2, 2018
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Official Report, Part III on the Olympic Games in Atlanta ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been 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. 86, English / French (PDF, 13,520 MB), accessed on March 2, 2018