Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay

Athletics at the
1968 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m   men   women
200 m men women
400 m men women
800 m men women
1500 m men
5000 m men
10,000 m men
80 m hurdles women
110 m hurdles men
400 m hurdles men
3000 m
steeplechase
men
4×100 m relay men women
4×400 m relay men
Road events
Marathon men
20 km walk men
50 km walk men
Field events
Long jump men women
Triple jump men
High jump men women
Pole vault men
Shot put men women
Discus throw men women
Javelin throw men women
Hammer throw men
Combined events
Pentathlon women
Decathlon men

These are the official results of the men's 4 x 100 metres relay event at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. The event was held on Saturday the 19th and Sunday the 20th of October 1968. There were a total number of 24 nations competing. The race was won by the United States, beating Cuba in world record time.

During the heats, Jamaica had equalled the world record 38.6 (38.65) and improved upon it in the semi-finals 38.3 (38.39).

The random seeding of the final had semifinal 1 winner, with the fastest time, Jamaica in lane 5, but heat 1 winner Cuba in lane one and runner up United States in lane 2, both regarded as inferior lanes. While Charles Greene got a quick start, USA struggled with poor handoffs so East Germany in lane 4 was the clear leader on the backstretch, with Jamaica and Cuba the closest competitors and Mel Pender racing to catch up. Through the turn Ronnie Ray Smith continued to chase Pablo Montes ahead of him on the inside. East Germany still had the lead going in to the final handoff, USA still behind Cuba but with a smooth handoff and France in lane 8 in competitive position. The East Germans took three attempts to finally make a handoff, losing ground. Once with baton in hand Jim Hines was clearly faster than Enrique Figuerola, catching him halfway down the straightaway and on to a two metre victory. Lennox Miller equally outran Harald Eggers, but Roger Bambuck was able to hold off Miller and dive for the bronze medal for France.

The USA's time was a Fully automatic timing world record that was faster than the hand timed mark from before the Olympics (also set at attitude at 440 yards). Miller had been the anchor of that previous record as well as the two Jamaican records earlier in the competition, though the 1967 USC record was never accepted as a world record because Miller was from a different country from his American college teammates (who included Earl McCullouch and the now infamous O. J. Simpson).

Medalists

Gold Silver Bronze
 United States (USA)
Charles Greene
Mel Pender
Ronnie Ray Smith
Jim Hines
 Cuba (CUB)
Hermes Ramírez
Juan Morales
Pablo Montes
Enrique Figuerola
 France (FRA)
Gérard Fenouil
Jocelyn Delecour
Claude Piquemal
Roger Bambuck

Records

These were the standing World and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1968 Summer Olympics.

World Record 38.4yA United States Earl McCullouch
United States Fred Kuller
United States O.J. Simpson
Jamaica Lennox Miller
Provo (USA) June 17, 1967
Olympic Record 39.0 United States Paul Drayton
United States Gerry Ashworth
United States Richard Stebbins
United States Bob Hayes
Tokyo (JPN) October 21, 1964

Results

Final

RANK NATION ATHLETES TIME
 United States (USA) Charles Greene
Mel Pender
Ronnie Ray Smith
Jim Hines
38.24
(WR)
 Cuba (CUB) Hermes Ramírez
Juan Morales
Pablo Montes
Enrique Figuerola
38.40
 France (FRA) Gérard Fenouil
Jocelyn Delecour
Claude Piquemal
Roger Bambuck
38.43
4.  Jamaica (JAM) Errol Stewart
Michael Fray
Clifton Forbes
Lennox Miller
38.4
5.  East Germany (GDR) • Heinz Erbstösser
• Hartmut Schelter
• Peter Haase
• Harald Eggers
38.6
6.  West Germany (FRG) • Karl-Peter Schmidtke
Gert Metz
Gerhard Wucherer
• Joachim Eigenherr
38.7
7.  Italy (ITA) Sergio Ottolina
Ennio Preatoni
Angelo Sguazzero
Livio Berruti
39.2
8.  Poland (POL) Wieslaw Maniak
Edward Romanowski
Zenon Nowosz
Marian Dudziak
39.2

Semifinals

Heat 1

RANK NATION ATHLETES TIME
1.  Jamaica (JAM) Errol Stewart
Michael Fray
Clifton Forbes
Lennox Miller
38.3
(WR)
2.  East Germany (GDR) • Heinz Erbstösser
• Hartmut Schelter
• Peter Haase
• Harald Eggers
38.7
3.  West Germany (FRG) • Karl-Peter Schmidtke
Gert Metz
Gerhard Wucherer
• Joachim Eigenherr
38.9
4.  Poland (POL) Wieslaw Maniak
Edward Romanowski
Zenon Nowosz
Marian Dudziak
38.9
5.  Great Britain (GBR) • Joseph Speake
Ron Jones
• Ralph Banthorpe
Barrie Kelly
39.4
6.  Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) Raymond Fabien
Winston Short
Carl Archer
Edwin Roberts
39.5
7.  Ivory Coast (CIV) • Atta Kouaukou
• N'dri Kouame
• Boy Diby
Gaoussou Kone
39.6
8.  Thailand (THA) • Manikavasagam Jegathesan
• Krishnan Thambusamy
• Gunaratnam Rajalingam
• Jai Hock Lim
40.8

Heat 2

RANK NATION ATHLETES TIME
1.  Cuba (CUB) Hermes Ramírez
Juan Morales
Pablo Montes
Enrique Figuerola
38.6
2.  United States (USA) Charles Greene
Mel Pender
Ronnie Ray Smith
Jim Hines
38.6
3.  France (FRA) Gérard Fenouil
Jocelyn Delecour
Claude Piquemal
Roger Bambuck
38.8
4.  Italy (ITA) Sergio Ottolina
Ennio Preatoni
Angelo Sguazzero
Livio Berruti
39.4
5.  Ghana (GHA) Edward Owusu
• Micheal Ahey
• William Quaye
James Addy
39.9
 Bahamas (BAH) • Gerald Wisdom
Thomas Robinson
• Bernard Nottage
• Edwin Johnson
DQ
 Nigeria (NGR) • Timon Oyebami
• Robert Ojo
• Benedict Majekodunmi
• Kola Abdulai
DQ
 Soviet Union (URS) • Aleksey Khlopotnov
• Eugeny Siniaev
• Nikolay Ivanov
• Vladislav Sapeia
DQ

References

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