These are the official results of the Women's 4 × 400 m 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, Georgia 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 498,715 ...

. There were 15 nations competing. In the penultimate race ever in Centennial Stadium,

Olabisi Afolabi Olabisi ("Bisi") Afolabi (born 31 October 1975 in Ilorin) is a retired female track and field athlete from Nigeria, who specialized in the 400 metres during her career. She was a member of the Nigerian team that won the silver medal in the 1996 ...

put Nigeria out in front, with

Merlene Frazer Merlene Frazer (born 27 December 1973, Trelawny, Jamaica) is a retired female track and field sprinter from Jamaica who specialized in the 200 metres. In the 4 x 100 metres relay, she won a World Championship gold medal in 1991 and ...

very close at the handoff.

Fatima Yusuf Fatima Yusuf-Olukoju (born 2 May 1971 in Owo, Ondo) is a retired Nigerian athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres during her career. She won 400 metres race in the 1991 All-Africa Games and was second in the 200 metres race. She is marr ...

extended the Nigerian lead out to about 8 metres, Handing off in sixth place,

Maicel Malone Maicel D. Malone-Wallace (born June 12, 1969 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American former track and field athlete who specialised in the 400 meters. She was on the 1996 Olympic Games gold medal winning team in the women's 4 x 400 meters relay ...

brought USA into second place, but Russian Svetlana Goncharenko, starting her leg in fifth place, followed Malone and overtook her on the final straight. With Nigeria comfortably in front, the second exchange saw the field bunch as the next six teams exchanged within a couple of steps of one another. Coming out of the scrum, Russia maintained second place followed by USA, while Cuba's Surella Morales found herself flat on her face before the end of the first turn. Down the backstretch Kim Graham ran USA past Russia's Yekaterina Kulikova, while Jamaica's Juliet Campbell ran wide to stay out of trouble, but opened the door for Germany's Anja Rücker to join the chase. Through the second turn, back from her drug suspension,

Charity Opara Charity Opara-Asonze (born 20 May 1972 in Owerri, Imo State) is a former Nigerian track and field athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. She was in particular a successful relay runner, winning the silver medal at the 1996 Olympics. ...

's lead began to shrink as Graham began to separate from the pack. Under the challenge, Opara began to tie up, Graham cruised by to hand off to

Jearl Miles Jearl Atawa Miles Clark ( née Miles; born September 4, 1966 in Gainesville, Florida) is an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 and 800 meters. She held the American record in the women's 800 m at 1:56.40. She competed for t ...

with a 4-metre advantage. Nigeria's bronze medalist

Falilat Ogunkoya Falilat Ogunkoya-Osheku (born 5 December 1968 in Ode Lemo, Ogun State, Nigeria) is a Nigerian former track and field athlete who holds the distinction of becoming the first Nigerian to win an individual track and field medal at the Olympic game ...

chased Miles leaving Jamaica's hurdle gold medalist Deon Hemmings to battle Germany's drug cheat

Grit Breuer Grit Breuer (later Springstein, born 16 February 1972 in Röbel, Bezirk Neubrandenburg) is a German former athlete, who competed in the women's 200 metres, 400 metres, 4×100 m relay, and 4×400 m relay events. She has received injuries as ...

. Campbell closed quickly to give Hemmings the edge over Breuer, but Ogunkoya made it clear she was not going to battle for bronze, putting a gap on Hemmings and Breuer quickly from the pass. Ogunkoya's focus was on Miles, gaining steadily until the final straight, reducing the gap to less than a metre. Miles was gritting her teeth, trying to hold off Ogunkoya. Coming off the turn, she looked to be struggling as Ogunkoya gained, Miles drifting into lane 2 to give Ogunkoya the direct route to victory. But Miles didn't let her by, holding the edge all the way to the finish line for American gold. Behind them, Hemmings held the advantage over Breuer until the final straight, then Breuer unleashed a sprint that left Hemmings and was nipping at Ogunkoya's heels, giving the German team the bronze.

Medalists

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

Results

Heats

Qualification: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualified to the final.

Final

References

External links