The women's 4×100 metres relay at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

as part of the athletics program was held at the

Athens Olympic Stadium The Olympic Stadium of Athens " Spyros Louis" ( el, Ολυμπιακό Στάδιο Αθηνών "Σπύρος Λούης", ''Olympiakó Stádio Athinon "Spyros Louis"'') is a sports stadium in Athens, Greece. It is a part of the Athens Olympic ...

from August 26 to 27. The sixteen teams competed in a two-heat qualifying round in which the first three teams from each heat, together with the next two fastest teams, were given a place in the final race. The final started off quickly with an early lead from Jamaica, before the U.S. team, led by Angela Williams, made a tactical move to pass their Jamaican rivals towards the exchange zone.

Marion Jones Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion track and field athlete and former professional basketball player. She won three gold medals and two bronze medals at the 2000 ...

ran the second leg confidently to put the Americans a more decent lead, until she finally approached the 100 metres silver medalist

Lauryn Williams Lauryn Williams (born September 11, 1983) is an American sprinter and bobsledder. She was the gold medalist in the 100 meter dash at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and won silver medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2007 World Champ ...

to do the handoff. By the time Williams was about to move off her mark on the third leg, Jones lunged out of breath with baton and desperately tried to catch her at the exchange zone that never happened, costing the Americans' chances for the Olympic medal. As the race continued without the U.S. team, the Jamaicans, anchored by 200 metres champion Veronica Campbell, scorched their way down the home stretch to an effortless victory in 41.73 seconds. They were soon followed by Russia taking the silver, and the French quartet rounding out the medal podium with the bronze.

Records

, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows. No new records were set during the competition.

Qualification

The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. A

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

(NOC) could enter one qualified relay team per relay event, with a maximum of six athletes. For this event, an NOC would be invited to participate with a relay team if the average of the team's two best times, obtained in

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

-sanctioned meetings or tournaments, would be among the best sixteen, at the end of this period.

Schedule

All times are Greece Standard Time (

UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, Cape ...

)

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.

Heat 1

Heat 2

Final

References

External links

IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Women's 4 by 100 metres relay W Relay foot races at the Olympics 2004 in women's athletics Women's events at the 2004 Summer Olympics