Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay
| Men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the Games of the XXX Olympiad | |
|---|---|
| Venue | Olympic Stadium |
| Date | 9–10 August |
| Teams | 16 |
| Winning time | 2:56.72 |
| Medalists | |
The men's 4 × 400 metres relay competition at the
The qualifying round experienced more drama than is normal in these affairs. In the first heat, on the second leg, Kenya's Vincent Mumo Kiilu was boxed in near the back of the pack, with South Africa's Ofentse Mogawane on his shoulder. Coming into the home straight, Kiilu tried to step to the outside, tripping Mogawane, leaving him injured on the track. The much awaited return of Oscar Pistorius waiting to run the third leg never materialized. South Africa filed a protest in which Kenya was disqualified and South Africa was allowed to run in the final.[2] Conveniently, the London Olympic Stadium track has 9 lanes to accommodate such a circumstance, while normally only 8 lanes are used in Championship meets.
At the finish of the first heat, Trinidad and Tobago won the heat, setting their
In the second heat the United States led off with Manteo Mitchell. Halfway around the track, Mitchell heard a crack and felt pain.
"It felt like somebody literally just snapped my leg in half. I felt it break.'’
Mitchell continued to the hand off, running a sub-par 46.1 split. It was later revealed that Mitchell did break his left fibula.[3] His American teammates continued on, running three sub 45 splits. Bahamas won the heat, but the Americans qualified, credited with exactly the same time as Bahamas, the fastest time in 2012. Both heats ending with the first and second place teams running the same times.
Also during the second heat, the Dominican Republic failed to make the second exchange between
In the final, Bahamas started off with their best 400 runners,
Oscar Pistorius ran the anchor leg for the South African team, but they were already well beaten before he received the baton.
The fifth place Russian team was later disqualified when two of its members received doping bans in 2017 after a re-test of their samples.[citation needed]
Records
Prior to the competition[update], the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  United States(Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Butch Reynolds, Michael Johnson) |
2:54.29 | Stuttgart, Germany | 22 August 1993 |
| Olympic record | United States (LaShawn Merritt, Angelo Taylor, David Neville, Jeremy Wariner) |
2:55.39 | Beijing, China | 23 August 2008 |
| 2012 World leading | University of Florida (Dedric Dukes, Hugh Graham Jr., Leonardo Seymore, Tony McQuay) |
3:00.02 | Des Moines , United States
|
9 June 2012 |
| Broken records during the 2012 Summer Olympics | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 World leading |  Bahamas(Chris Brown, Demetrius Pinder, Michael Mathieu, Ramon Miller) |
2:56.72 | London, United Kingdom | 10 August 2012 |
The Following new National records were set during this competition
Bahamas National Record
|
Chris Brown, Demetrius Pinder, Michael Mathieu, Ramon Miller (BAH)
|
2:56.72 |
Trinidad and Tobago National Record
|
 Lalonde Gordon, Jarrin Solomon, Ade Alleyne-Forte, Deon Lendore (TRI)
|
2:59.40 |
Schedule
All times are
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, 9 August 2012 | 11:35 | Round 1 |
| Friday, 10 August 2012 | 21:20 | Finals |
Results
- Q denotes automatic qualification (based on place).
- q denotes provisional qualification (fastest non-automatic qualifiers).
- DNS denotes did not start.
- DNF denotes did not finish.
- DQ denotes disqualified
- AR denotes area record.
- NR denotes national record.
- PB denotes personal best.
- SB denotes season's best.
Round 1
Qual. rule: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) qualified.
Heat 1
| Rank | Nation | Competitors | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Trinidad and Tobago |
Lalonde Gordon, Jarrin Solomon, Ade Alleyne-Forte, Deon Lendore | 3:00.38 | Q, NR
|
| 2 |  Great Britain |
Nigel Levine, Conrad Williams, Jack Green, Martyn Rooney | 3:00.38 | Q, SB |
| 3 |  Cuba |
Orestes Rodriguez, Omar Cisneros |
3:00.55 | Q |
| 4 |  Belgium |
Nils Duerinck, Jonathan Borlée, Antoine Gillet, Kevin Borlée | 3:01.70 | q |
| 5 |  Poland |
Piotr Wiaderek, Marcin Marciniszyn, Michał Pietrzak, Kacper Kozłowski | 3:02.86 | |
| 6 |  Germany |
Thomas Schneider |
3:03.50 | |
| — |  South Africa |
Shaun de Jager, Ofentse Mogawane, Oscar Pistorius, Willem de Beer | — | DNF* |
| — |  Kenya |
Alphas Leken Kishoyian |
— | DQ |
Note: *South Africa's Ofentse Mogawane was injured in a collision with Kenya's Vincent Mumo Kiilu and failed to hand over to Oscar Pistorius who was supposed to run the third leg.
Heat 2
| Rank | Nation | Competitors | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Bahamas |
Ramon Miller, Demetrius Pinder, Michael Mathieu, Chris Brown | 2:58.87 | Q, SB |
| 2 |  United States |
Manteo Mitchell[a], Joshua Mance, Tony McQuay, Bryshon Nellum | 2:58.87 | Q, SB |
| 3 |  Russia |
Maksim Dyldin, Denis Alekseyev, Vladimir Krasnov, Pavel Trenikhin | 3:02.01 | Q |
| 4 |  Venezuela |
Jose Melendez |
3:02.62 | q |
| 5 |  Australia |
Brendan Cole, John Steffensen |
3:03.17 | |
| 6 |  Japan |
Kei Takase, Yuzo Kanemaru, Yoshihiro Azuma, Hiroyuki Nakano | 3:03.86 | |
| — |  Jamaica |
Dane Hyatt, Riker Hylton, Jermaine Gonzales, Errol Nolan | — | DNF |
| — |  Dominican Republic |
Gustavo Cuesta, Félix Sánchez, Joel Mejia, Luguelín Santos | — | DQ |
- a At approximately the 200-metre mark of the first leg, American runner Manteo Mitchell broke his left fibula. However, he still managed to finish his leg with a time of 46.1.[7]
Final
| Rank | Lane | Nation | Competitors | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
4 | Bahamas |
Chris Brown, Demetrius Pinder, Michael Mathieu, Ramon Miller | 2:56.72 | WL, NR
|
 |
7 | United States |
Bryshon Nellum, Joshua Mance, Tony McQuay, Angelo Taylor | 2:57.05 | SB |
 |
5 | Trinidad and Tobago |
Lalonde Gordon, Jarrin Solomon, Ade Alleyne-Forte, Deon Lendore | 2:59.40 | NR
|
| 4 | 6 | Great Britain |
Conrad Williams, Jack Green, Dai Greene, Martyn Rooney | 2:59.53 | SB |
| 5 | 8 | Belgium |
Michael Bultheel |
3:01.83 | |
| 6 | 3 | Venezuela |
Albert Bravo, Omar Longart |
3:02.18 | |
| 7 | 1 | South Africa |
Louis van Zyl, Oscar Pistorius |
3:03.46 | SB |
| 9 | Cuba |
Orestes Rodriguez, Omar Cisneros |
DNF | ||
| 2 | Russia |
Maksim Dyldin, Denis Alekseyev, Vladimir Krasnov, Pavel Trenikhin | DQ (3:00.09) | Doping |
Note: South Africa was allowed to continue as the ninth finalists on appeal. Louis van Zyl replaced the injured Ofentse Mogawane.[8]
References
- ^ "Olympic Athletics - Information, History, Rules - London 2012". Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- ^ Ross, Sam. "Oscar Pistorius and South Africa reinstated for 4 × 400 m relay final after failing to finish heat due to Kenya clash". Metro. UK. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
- ^ "Team USA's Manteo Mitchell, who finished 4 × 400 meter relay semifinal with broken leg, should inspire us all". Fox Sports. 29 June 2012. Archived from the original on 10 August 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
- ^ "Australia out of 4 × 400 m relay". Wwos.ninemsn.com.au. 19 October 2008. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
- ^ "Gator Sports". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
- ^ "IAAF: The XXX Olympic Games Olympic Games". iaaf.org. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
- ^ "Manteo Mitchell Broken Leg: U.S. 4x400M Runner Finishes Olympic Relay After Breaking Leg". HuffPost. Associated Press. 9 August 2012. Archived from the original on 10 August 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
- ^ "Tight contests set up thrilling 400m Relay final". Archived from the original on 6 December 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2012.