Jump to content

Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Men's 4 × 400 metres relay
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Olympic Athletics
VenueAthens Olympic Stadium
Dates27–28 August
Competitors68 from 16 nations
Winning time2:55.91
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  United States (USA)
Otis Harris, Derrick Brew, Jeremy Wariner, Darold Williamson, Andrew Rock*, Kelly Willie*
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Australia (AUS)
John Steffensen, Mark Ormrod, Patrick Dwyer, Clinton Hill
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)

 Nigeria (NGR)
James Godday, Musa Audu, Saul Weigopwa, Enefiok Udo-Obong


*Indicates the athlete only competed in the preliminary heats.
← 2000
2008 →

The men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program was held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 27 to 28. 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.[1]

The American dominance in this relay event had become increasingly clear, having swept the medals in the 400 metres five days earlier. From an explosive start in the final, Otis Harris led off for the U.S. team and gave them a relentless lead over the rest of the field throughout the race. With no other team aiming to chase the Americans on the home stretch, the foursome of Harris, Derrick Brew, Olympic 400 metres champion Jeremy Wariner, and Darold Williamson stormed away to an effortless triumph in a time of 2:55.91, 4.69 seconds ahead of the silver-winning Aussie squad. As of 2023, this is the greatest winning margin in this relay at the Olympics. Meanwhile, the Nigerians stayed much closer with Japan and Great Britain on the final bend, until they outlasted the rivals in a desperately tight finish for the bronze.[2][3]

The victory also helped the Americans compensate for the surprising runner-up finish of their team in the earlier sprint relay.[4]

Records

[edit]

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record  United States (USA)
Jerome Young
Antonio Pettigrew
Tyree Washington
Michael Johnson
2:54.20 Uniondale, United States 22 July 1998
Olympic record  United States (USA)
Andrew Valmon
Michael Johnson
Quincy Watts
Steve Lewis
2:55.74 Barcelona, Spain 8 August 1992

No new records were set during the competition.

Qualification

[edit]

The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. A National Olympic Committee (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-sanctioned meetings or tournaments, would be among the best sixteen, at the end of this period.

Schedule

[edit]

All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round
Friday, 27 August 2004 21:00 Round 1
Saturday, 28 August 2004 22:25 Final

Results

[edit]

Round 1

[edit]

Qualification rule: The first three teams in each heat (Q) plus the next two fastest overall (q) moved on to the final.[5]

Heat 1

[edit]
Rank Lane Nation Competitors Time Notes
1 6  Great Britain Timothy Benjamin, Sean Baldock, Malachi Davis, Matthew Elias 3:02.40 Q, SB
2 5  Japan Yuki Yamaguchi, Jun Osakada, Tomohiro Ito, Mitsuhiro Sato 3:02.71 Q
3 2  Germany Ingo Schultz, Kamghe Gaba, Ruwen Faller, Bastian Swillims 3:02.77 Q
4 8  Australia John Steffensen, Clinton Hill, Patrick Dwyer, Mark Ormrod 3:03.06 q
5 1  Botswana Oganeditse Moseki, Johnson Kubisa, California Molefe, Kagiso Kilego 3:03.32 q, SB
6 7  Greece Stilianos Dimotsios, Anastasios Gousis, Panagiotis Sarris, Periklis Iakovakis 3:04.27 SB
7 4  France Ahmed Douhou, Ibrahima Wade, Abderrahim El Haouzy, Leslie Djhone 3:04.39
3  Jamaica Michael Campbell, Michael Blackwood, Jermaine Gonzales, Davian Clarke DSQ

Heat 2

[edit]
Rank Lane Nation Competitors Time Notes
1 6  United States Kelly Willie, Derrick Brew, Andrew Rock, Darold Williamson 2:59.30 Q
2 3  Nigeria James Godday, Musa Audu, Saul Weigopwa, Enefiok Udo-Obong 3:01.60 Q, SB
3 2  Bahamas Andrae Williams, Dennis Darling, Nathaniel McKinney, Christopher Brown 3:01.74 Q, SB
4 5  Russia Aleksandr Larin, Andrey Rudnitskiy, Oleg Mishukov, Ruslan Mashchenko 3:03.35
5 8  Poland Piotr Rysiukiewicz, Piotr Klimczak, Marcin Marciniszyn, Marek Plawgo 3:03.69
6 4  Ukraine Volodymyr Demchenko, Yevgeniy Zyukov, Myhaylo Knysh, Andriy Tverdostup 3:04.01
7 7  Spain Eduardo Iván Rodríguez, David Canal, Luis Flores, Antonio Manuel Reina 3:05.03 SB
1  South Africa Marcus La Grange, Hendrick Mokganyetsi, Ockert Cilliers, Arnaud Malherbe DNF

Final

[edit]

[6]

Rank Lane Nation Competitors Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4  United States Otis Harris, Derrick Brew, Jeremy Wariner, Darold Williamson 2:55.91 SB
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1  Australia John Steffensen, Mark Ormrod, Patrick Dwyer, Clinton Hill 3:00.60 SB
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3  Nigeria James Godday, Musa Audu, Saul Weigopwa, Enefiok Udo-Obong 3:00.90 SB
4 6  Japan Yuki Yamaguchi, Jun Osakada, Tomohiro Ito, Mitsuhiro Sato 3:00.99 SB
5 5  Great Britain Timothy Benjamin, Sean Baldock, Malachi Davis, Matthew Elias 3:01.07 SB
6 7  Bahamas Nathaniel McKinney, Aaron Cleare, Andrae Williams, Christopher Brown 3:01.88
7 8  Germany Ingo Schultz, Kamghe Gaba, Ruwen Faller, Bastian Swillims 3:02.22
8 2  Botswana Johnson Kubisa, California Molefe, Gaolesiela Salang, Kagiso Kilego 3:02.49 SB

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Athletics at the 2004 Athens Summer Games: Men's 4 × 400 metres Relay". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  2. ^ "USA win men's 4×400m gold". BBC Sport. 28 August 2004. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  3. ^ Robbins, Liz (28 August 2004). "Summer 2004 Games – Track and Field: Men's 4×100-Meter Relay; An American Relay Effort Again Gets Out of Hand". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  4. ^ "Americans romp in 4 × 400 men's relay". USA Today. 28 August 2004. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  5. ^ "IAAF Athens 2004: Men's 4×400m Relay Heats". Athens 2004. IAAF. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  6. ^ "IAAF Athens 2004: Men's 4×400m Relay Final". Athens 2004. IAAF. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
[edit]