The men's

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individu ...

was the shorter of the two men's relays on the

Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the athletics competition included 36 events, 24 for men and 12 for women. The women's 400 metres and women's pentathlon events were newly introduced at these Games. There were a total number of 1016 partic ...

program in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. It was held on 20 October and 21 October 1964. 21 teams, for a total of 85 athletes, from 21 nations competed, with 1 team of 4 not starting in the first round. The first round and the semifinals were held on 20 October with the final on 21 October. The traditionally strong American team was weakened by the injuries to

Mel Pender Melvin Pender Jr. (born October 31, 1937 in Atlanta, Georgia) competed as a runner in the 1964 and 1968 Olympics, winning an Olympic gold medalist in the 4x100 m relay at the 1968 Summer Olympics. He had been a member of the Philadelphia P ...

and Trent Jackson. The defending champions

United Team of Germany The United Team of Germany (german: Gesamtdeutsche Mannschaft) was a combined team of athletes from West Germany and East Germany that competed in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Winter and Summer Olympic Games. In 1956, the team also included athletes f ...

(with no returning members) failed to get out of the semi-finals. The final began with Andrzej Zieliński out fast, making up the stagger on American substitute Paul Drayton on his outside. The Poles exchanged smoothly and their 4th place runner from the finals Wieslaw Maniak held a foot advantage on (plus the stagger) on

Gerry Ashworth Gerald Howard "Gerry" Ashworth (born May 1, 1942 in Haverhill, Massachusetts to Earl Ashworth) was an American former track athlete and a gold medalist in the 4 x 100 meter relay in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He won two gold medals sprinting in t ...

. Inside of them, France and Jamaica were making strong showings.

Claude Piquemal Claude Piquemal (born 13 March 1939 in Siguer, Ariège) was a French athlete who mainly competed in the 100 metres. He competed for France in the 4 x 100 metre relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan, where he won th ...

put France into the lead through the turn with Jamaica, USSR and Poland all ahead when substitute

Richard Stebbins Richard Vaughn "Dick" Stebbins (born June 14, 1945) is an American former athlete, winner of gold medal in 4 × 100 m relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics. At the Tokyo Olympics, Richard Stebbins finished seventh in 200 m and ran the third ...

handed off to

Bob Hayes Robert Lee Hayes (December 20, 1942 – September 18, 2002), nicknamed "Bullet Bob", was an Olympic gold medalist sprinter who then became an American football split end in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons). ...

3 meters behind France's

Jocelyn Delecour Jocelyn Delecour (born 2 January 1935) is a retired French sprinter. He competed in various sprint events at the 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1964 in the 4×100 metre relay, together with Paul Genevay, Bernard La ...

. Hayes making up the gap halfway down the straightaway then pulled away to a clear American victory and new world record. 3 meters behind Hayes, Poland's

Marian Dudziak Marian Andrzej Dudziak (born 2 February 1941) was a Polish sprinter who specialized in the 100 metres. He was born in Wielichowo and represented the clubs Orkan Poznań and Olimpia Poznań. At the 1964 Summer Olympics he won a silver ...

was able to out lean Delecour for silver. The United States'

ran the final 100m of the relay in 8.6 seconds according to some estimate. This remains the fastest anchor leg of all time. Delecour famously said to Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need."

Results

First round

The top four teams in each of the 3 heats as well as the four fastest remaining team advanced.

First round, heat 1

First round, heat 2

First round, heat 3

Semifinals

The top four teams in each of the two semifinals advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Okorafor took Amu's place for Nigeria. The American team tied the old Olympic record at 39.5 seconds.

Semifinal 2

Final

Venezuela and Italy tied the old Olympic record. The United States, Poland, France, Jamaica, and the Soviet Union all broke it, with the U.S. also breaking the world record. The United States'

ran the final 100m of the relay in 8.6 seconds, passing three teams and bringing the U.S. from 4th to 1st place. This remains the fastest anchor leg of all time.

References

* Official Report {{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics - Men's 4 by 100 metres relay Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics Relay foot races at the Olympics 4 × 100 metres relay Men's events at the 1964 Summer Olympics