These are the official results of the men's 4 × 400 metres relay event at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

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., ...

. There were 35 nations competing. United States ran the event without their top two qualifiers from the

Olympic Trials Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

world record holder In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

Butch Reynolds Harry Lee Reynolds Jr. (born June 8, 1964), commonly known as Butch Reynolds, is an American former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 meter dash. He held the world record for the event for 11 years with his personal best time of 4 ...

was injured before the games and 400 meters gold medalist Michael Johnson was injured during his

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

19.32 world record. Seizing the opportunity of a weakened US squad, Britain's

Iwan Thomas Iwan Gwyn Thomas (born 5 January 1974) is a Welsh sprinter who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, and Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Thomas is a former European, Commonwealth Games and W ...

shot out to a lead from the gun putting a big gap on USA's Lamont Smith to his inside. Reality set in and Thomas began to tie up toward the end of his leg, allowing Smith to gain back to almost even with Thomas by the handoff, with Michael McDonald putting Jamaica into third position. Alvin Harrison ran a solid turn and looked to put America in the lead at the break, but

Jamie Baulch James Stephen Baulch (born 3 May 1973) is a retired Welsh sprint athlete and television presenter. He won the 400 metres gold medal at the 1999 World Indoor Championships. As a member of British 4 × 400 metres relay teams, he won a gold medal ...

sprinted past him on the outside to put the Brits back in the lead. Harrison held his position behind Baulch all the way until the end of the second turn, with

Greg Haughton Gregory Haughton (born 10 November 1973) is a Jamaican 400 metres runner. He won three Olympic medals, one at the 1996 Summer Olympics and two at the 2000 Summer Olympics. His personal best for the 400 m was 44.56 seconds. He was coache ...

bringing Jamaica into the three-team breakaway for the medals. Harrison steadily gained on the last half of the turn pulling even by the straightaway, then cleanly separated, putting USA in the lead. Haughton followed Harrison around Baulch running down lane 2 trying to catch Harrison. USA and GBR exchanged cleanly on the inside, but as Haughton handed off to

Roxbert Martin Roxbert Martin (born 5 November 1969 in Saint Ann, Jamaica) is a former Jamaican 400 metres runner, who was selected for the Jamaican 4x400 metres relay team at the 1996 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal. He was part of the gold-medal-winn ...

, they crossed legs with Martin coming out doing a full somersault, Jamaica losing a couple of steps on

Derek Mills Derek Mills (born July 9, 1972) is a former American sprinter. He was a 1996 Olympic Games gold medalist in the men's 4×400 meter relay for the United States. He has a career best of 44.13 in the 400 m. After going to college at Georgia Tec ...

leading for the Americans, with Mark Richardson in hot pursuit. Richardson pulled in the gap to Mills, looking poised to pounce coming off the final turn, but Mills held him off and pulled away down the straight. Mills handed off to Anthuan Maybank, whose selection to the U.S. team was controversial. Maybank was not selected for the individual race because he had been disqualified for a lane violation in the

. Normally, the top six finishers would be selected and he technically did not finish. Now in the absence of Johnson and Reynolds, he was thrust into the potential hero's role of anchoring the American team. With a three-meter deficit to make up, Britain's silver medalist Roger Black had other ideas. Black steadily gained on Maybank and was in perfect position to pass coming off the final turn. But Maybank never let him by, lifting his knees and pulling away from Black to bring USA home with a four-metre victory for the gold medal.

Davian Clarke Davian Clarke (born 30 April 1976) is a Jamaican former athlete, who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He won the bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1996 Olympics, and many relay medals followed, before he won his fir ...

brought Jamaica home for bronze three seconds later. Behind the medalists, Senegal made a terrible final handoff behind Japan, leaving them even with Poland on the final lap.

Ibou Faye Ibou Faye (born December 13, 1969) is a retired Senegalese athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for ...

made up the deficit, passing Japan's Shigekazu Ōmori and finished setting a new National Record that survived two decades.

Medalists

* Athletes who participated in the heats only and received medals.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Results

Heats

Qualification: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) qualified to the semifinals.

Semifinals

Qualification: First 4 in each heat (Q) qualified directly to the final.

Final

References

External links

Official Report

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics - Men's 4 by 400 metres relay R Relay foot races at the Olympics Men's events at the 1996 Summer Olympics