Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay
| Men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Athens Olympic Stadium | |||||||||
| Dates | 27–28 August | |||||||||
| Competitors | 68 from 16 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 2:55.91 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Track events | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | men | women |
| 1500 m | men | women |
| 5000 m | men | women |
| 10,000 m | men | women |
| 100 m hurdles | women | |
| 110 m hurdles | men | |
| 400 m hurdles | men | women |
| 3000 m steeplechase | men | |
| 4 × 100 m relay | men | women |
| 4 × 400 m relay | men | women |
| Road events | ||
| Marathon | men | women |
| 20 km walk | men | women |
| 50 km walk | men | |
| Field events | ||
| Long jump | men | women |
| Triple jump | men | women |
| High jump | men | women |
| Pole vault | men | women |
| Shot put | men | women |
| Discus throw | men | women |
| Javelin throw | men | women |
| Hammer throw | men | women |
| Combined events | ||
| Heptathlon | women | |
| Decathlon | men | |
| Wheelchair races | ||
The men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the
The American dominance in this relay event had become increasingly clear, having swept the medals in the 400 metres five days earlier. From an explosive start in the final, Otis Harris led off for the U.S. team and gave them a relentless lead over the rest of the field throughout the race. With no other team aiming to chase the Americans on the home stretch, the foursome of Harris, Derrick Brew, Olympic 400 metres champion Jeremy Wariner, and Darold Williamson stormed away to an effortless triumph in a time of 2:55.91, nearly five seconds ahead of the silver-winning Aussie squad. Meanwhile, the Nigerians stayed much closer with Japan and Great Britain on the final bend, until they outlasted the rivals in a desperately tight finish for the bronze.[2][3]
The victory also helped the Americans compensate for the surprising runner-up finish of their team in the earlier sprint relay.[4]
Records
Prior to the competition[update], the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Michael Johnson |
2:54.20 | Uniondale, United States | 22 July 1998 |
| Olympic record |  Steve Lewis |
2:55.74 | Barcelona, Spain | 8 August 1992 |
No new records were set during the competition.
Qualification
The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. A
Schedule
All times are Greece Standard Time (
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, 27 August 2004 | 21:00 | Round 1 |
| Saturday, 28 August 2004 | 22:25 | Final |
Results
Round 1
Qualification rule: The first three teams in each heat (Q) plus the next two fastest overall (q) moved on to the final.[5]
Heat 1
| Rank | Lane | Nation | Competitors | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 |  Great Britain
|
3:02.40 | Q, SB | |
| 2 | 5 |  Japan
|
Yuki Yamaguchi, Jun Osakada, Tomohiro Ito, Mitsuhiro Sato | 3:02.71 | Q |
| 3 | 2 |  Germany
|
Ingo Schultz, Kamghe Gaba, Ruwen Faller, Bastian Swillims | 3:02.77 | Q |
| 4 | 8 |  Australia
|
Patrick Dwyer, Mark Ormrod
|
3:03.06 | q |
| 5 | 1 |  Botswana
|
Oganeditse Moseki, Johnson Kubisa, California Molefe, Kagiso Kilego | 3:03.32 | q, SB |
| 6 | 7 |  Greece
|
3:04.27 | SB | |
| 7 | 4 |  France
|
Ahmed Douhou, Ibrahima Wade, Abderrahim El Haouzy, Leslie Djhone | 3:04.39 | |
| 3 |  Jamaica
|
Michael Blackwood, Jermaine Gonzales, Davian Clarke
|
DSQ |
Heat 2
| Rank | Lane | Nation | Competitors | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | United States
|
Kelly Willie, Derrick Brew, Andrew Rock, Darold Williamson | 2:59.30 | Q |
| 2 | 3 |  Nigeria
|
James Godday, Musa Audu, Saul Weigopwa, Enefiok Udo-Obong | 3:01.60 | Q, SB |
| 3 | 2 |  Bahamas
|
Christopher Brown
|
3:01.74 | Q, SB |
| 4 | 5 |  Russia
|
Aleksandr Larin, Andrey Rudnitskiy, Oleg Mishukov, Ruslan Mashchenko | 3:03.35 | |
| 5 | 8 |  Poland
|
Piotr Rysiukiewicz, Piotr Klimczak, Marcin Marciniszyn, Marek Plawgo | 3:03.69 | |
| 6 | 4 |  Ukraine
|
Yevgeniy Zyukov, Myhaylo Knysh, Andriy Tverdostup
|
3:04.01 | |
| 7 | 7 |  Spain
|
Eduardo Iván Rodríguez, David Canal, Luis Flores, Antonio Manuel Reina | 3:05.03 | SB |
| 1 |  South Africa
|
DNF |
Final
| Rank | Lane | Nation | Competitors | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
4 | United States
|
Otis Harris, Derrick Brew, Jeremy Wariner, Darold Williamson | 2:55.91 | SB |
|
1 | Australia
|
Patrick Dwyer, Clinton Hill
|
3:00.60 | SB |
|
3 | Nigeria
|
James Godday, Musa Audu, Saul Weigopwa, Enefiok Udo-Obong | 3:00.90 | SB |
| 4 | 6 | Japan
|
Yuki Yamaguchi, Jun Osakada, Tomohiro Ito, Mitsuhiro Sato | 3:00.99 | SB |
| 5 | 5 | Great Britain
|
3:01.07 | SB | |
| 6 | 7 | Bahamas
|
Christopher Brown
|
3:01.88 | |
| 7 | 8 | Germany
|
Ingo Schultz, Kamghe Gaba, Ruwen Faller, Bastian Swillims | 3:02.22 | |
| 8 | 2 | Botswana
|
Johnson Kubisa, California Molefe, Gaolesiela Salang, Kagiso Kilego | 3:02.49 | SB |
References
- ^ "Athletics at the 2004 Athens Summer Games: Men's 4 × 400 metres Relay". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
- ^ "USA win men's 4×400m gold". BBC Sport. 28 August 2004. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- ^ Robbins, Liz (28 August 2004). "Summer 2004 Games – Track and Field: Men's 4×100-Meter Relay; An American Relay Effort Again Gets Out of Hand". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- ^ "Americans romp in 4 × 400 men's relay". USA Today. 28 August 2004. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- IAAF. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- IAAF. Retrieved 16 October 2015.