The men's 4 × 400 metres relay event at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

took place on 22 and 23 August at the

Beijing National Stadium The National Stadium (), also known as the Bird's Nest (), is an 80,000-capacity stadium in Beijing. The stadium was jointly designed by architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron from Basel-based architecture team Herzog & de Meuron, p ...

. There were 16 NOCs competing at this event. These 16 NOCs were selected by the average of the two best marks at the qualifying period. The final was won by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in the new Olympic record time 2:55.39.

Summary

Having swept the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

and winning the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

as part of their qualifying process, defending champion USA came in as an overwhelming favorite. USA put their Olympic champion

LaShawn Merritt LaShawn Merritt (born June 27, 1986) is an American track and field athlete who competes in sprinting events, specializing in the 400 metres. He is a former Olympic champion over the distance and his personal best of 43.65 seconds makes him th ...

on the leadoff leg with the intent to break the race wide open from the start. The strategy worked, Merritt ran 44.01 out of the blocks. 400 hurdles champion

Angel Taylor Angel Mae Taylor is a pop singer-songwriter based in the Los Angeles area. Angel Taylor's debut album, entitled ''Love Travels'' was released on iTunes on March 31, 2009, through Aware/Columbia Records. An EP entitled ''Love Travels EP'' was ...

hit the break line with an 8 metre lead over Belgium, who also front loaded their order with brothers Kévin Borlée and

Jonathan Borlée Jonathan Borlée (; born 22 February 1988) is a Belgian sprinter, who specializes in the 400 metres. He is a member of the Borlée family. He qualified for the finals of the 400 metres at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was a semi-finalist at ...

. Jonathan closed down on Taylor down the backstretch, with Bahamas

Michael Mathieu Michael Mathieu (born 24 June 1984) is a retired Bahamian sprinter from Freeport, Grand Bahama who specialized in the 200 metres and 400 metres. He was part of the Bahamian silver medal-winning team in the men's 4×400 metres relay at the 20 ...

working his way through traffic to move into third. Down the home stretch, Taylor re-opened the lead to 8 metres before handing off to bronze medalist David Neville. A 45 second runner, Belgium's

Cédric Van Branteghem Cédric Marie Carlos Thérèse Van Branteghem (born 13 March 1979 in Ghent) is a Belgian sprinter, who specializes in the 400 metres. Achievements Personal bests *100 metres - 10.54 s (2003) *200 metres The 200 metres, or 2 ...

was no match as Neville pulled away while Bahamas

Andrae Williams Andrae Williams (born 12 July 1983 in Freeport, Bahamas) is a Bahamian sprint athlete mainly competing in the 400m. University Williams competed in collegiate track at Texas Tech University. 2004 In the 2004 Olympic Games, Willi ...

closed in from behind. USA handed off to their silver medalist

Jeremy Wariner Jeremy Matthew Wariner (born January 31, 1984) is a retired American track athlete specializing in the 400 meters. He has won four Olympic medals (three gold, one silver) and six World Championships medals. He is the fourth fastest competitor in ...

, who was also the defending 400 champion coming into these Olympics. Belgium's 47 second anchor

Arnaud Ghislain Arnaud Ghislain (born 2 December 1988) is a Belgian sprinter, who specialized in the 400 metres. He is an indoor national senior champion for his category, and also a member of the Belgian national track relay team. Ghislain was originally selec ...

was caught by Bahamas 4th place, 44 second anchor

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

halfway through the turn. Wariner continued to open the gap all the way to a 25 metre victory. Brown was in the sights of Russia's

Denis Alekseyev Denis Sergeyevich Alekseyev (russian: Денис Серге́евич Алексеев; born December 21, 1987) is a Russian sprint athlete, born in St. Petersburg. Doping ban Alekseyev tested positive for the anabolic steroid Dehydrochloromet ...

through the final turn until he opened up a clear second place down the home stretch. Taking the baton in 6th place, GBR's 400 metre finalist

Martyn Rooney Martyn Joseph Rooney (born 3 April 1987) is an English Sprint (running), sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres event. He reached the 400 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won bronze in the 4×400 metres relay. A mainstay on the a ...

worked his way past Jamaica and Belgium, almost catching Alekseyev at the line. Eight years later, Alekseyev was found guilty of doping. He and the Russian team were disqualified giving GBR the bronze medal.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. The following Olympic record was set during this competition.

Qualification summary

Results

All times shown are in seconds. *Q denotes automatic qualification. *q denotes fastest losers. *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

First 3 in each heat(Q) and the next 2 fastest(q) advance to the Final.

Final

* On 14 September 2016, IOC officially stripped Russia of the bronze medal for positive doping test of

. Reallocation to Great Britain was confirmed on 21 June 2017.

References

Results on website IAAF
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's 4 by 400 metres relay Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics Relay foot races at the Olympics Olympics 2008 Men's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics