Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay


The men's 4 × 100 metres relay was the shorter of the two men's relays on the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. It was held on 20 October and 21 October 1964. 21 teams, for a total of 85 athletes, from 21 nations competed, with 1 team of 4 not starting in the first round. The first round and the semifinals were held on 20 October with the final on 21 October.
The traditionally strong American team was weakened by the injuries to Mel Pender and Trent Jackson. The defending champions United Team of Germany failed to get out of the semi-finals.
The final began with Andrzej Zielinski out fast, making up the stagger on American substitute Paul Drayton on his outside. The Poles exchanged smoothly and their 4th place runner from the finals Wieslaw Maniak held a foot advantage on on Gerry Ashworth. Inside of them, France and Jamaica were making strong showings. Claude Piquemal put France into the lead through the turn with Jamaica, USSR and Poland all ahead when
substitute Richard Stebbins handed off to Bob Hayes 3 meters behind France's Jocelyn Delecour. But Hayes was running in another gear, tearing down the track, making up the gap halfway down the straightaway then pulling away to a clear American victory and new world record. 3 meters behind Hayes, Poland's Marian Dudziak was able to out lean Delecour for silver. The United States' Bob Hayes ran the final 100m of the relay in a record 8.60 seconds. This remains the fastest anchor leg of all time.
Delecour famously said to Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes." Drayton was able to reply afterwards, "That's all we need."

Results

First round

The top four teams in each of the 3 heats as well as the four fastest remaining team advanced.

First round, heat 1

PlaceNationAthletesTime
1Livio Berruti, Ennio Preatoni, Sergio Ottolina, Pasquale Giannattasio39.7 seconds
2Andrzej Zielinski, Wieslaw Jan Maniak, Marian Foik, Marian Dudziak39.9 seconds
3Peter Radford, Ronald Jones, Menzies Campbell, Lynn Davies40.1 seconds
4Huba Rozsnyai, Csaba Csutoras, Laszlo Mihalyfi, Gyula Rabai40.3 seconds
5Sydney Asiodu, Folu Erinle, James Omagbemi, Abdul Amu40.4 seconds
6Mazlan Hamzah, John Daukom, Canagasabai Kunalan, Mani Jegathesan41.4 seconds
—Jasim Karim Kuraishi, Samir Vincent, Khalid Tawfik Lazim, Khudher ZaladaDid not finish

First round, heat 2

PlaceNationAthletesTime
1Paul Drayton, Gerry Ashworth, Richard Stebbins, Bob Hayes39.8 seconds
2Arquímedes Herrera, Lloyd Murad, Rafael Romero, Hortensio Fucil40.1 seconds
3Heinz Erbstosser, Rainer Berger, Peter Wallach, Volker Löffler40.2 seconds
4Malang Mané, Bassirou Doumbia, Malick Diop, Alioune Sow40.5 seconds
5Anthony Coutinho, Makhan Singh, Kenneth Powell, Rajasekaran Pichaya40.6 seconds
6Iijima Hideo, Kamata Masaru, Kiyoshi Asai, Yojiro Muro41.0 seconds
7Taweesit Arjtaweekul, Suthi Manyakass, Maitri Vilaikit, Chalit Kanitasut41.8 seconds

First round, heat 3

PlaceNationAthletesTime
1Paul Genevay, Bernard Laidebeur, Claude Piquemal, Jocelyn Delecour39.8 seconds
2Pablo McNeil, Patrick Robinson, Lynn Headley, Dennis Johnson40.1 seconds
3Edvin Ozolin, Boris Zubov, Gusman Kosanov, Boris Savchuk40.1 seconds
4Bob Lay, Eric Bigby, William Earle, Gary Holdsworth40.6 seconds
5Michael Okantey, Michael Ahey, Ebenezer Addy, Stanley Fabian Allotey40.8 seconds
6Aggrey Awori, Erasmus Amukun, James Odongo Oduka, Amos Omolo41.4 seconds
7Arnulfo Valles, Miguel Ebreo, Claro Pellosis, Rogelio Onofre41.7 seconds

Semifinals

The top four teams in each of the two semifinals advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Okorafor took Amu's place for Nigeria.
The American team tied the old Olympic record at 39.5 seconds.
PlaceNationAthletesTime
1Paul Drayton, Gerry Ashworth, Richard Stebbins, Bob Hayes39.5 seconds =OR
2Paul Genevay, Bernard Laidebeur, Claude Piquemal, Jocelyn Delecour39.7 seconds
3Pablo McNeil, Patrick Robinson, Lynn Headley, Dennis Johnson39.6 seconds
4Peter Radford, Ronald Jones, Menzies Campbell, Lynn Davies40.1 seconds
5Robert William Lay, Eric James Bigby, William Joseph Earle, Gary Alfred Holdsworth40.1 seconds
6Sydney Asiodu, Folu Erinle, James Omagbemi, Lawrence Okoroafor40.1 seconds
7Huba Rozsnyai, Csaba Csutoras, Laszlo Mihalyfi, Gyula Rabai40.3 seconds
8Michael Okantey, Michael Ahey, Ebenezer Addy, Stanley Fabian Allotey40.7 seconds

Semifinal 2

PlaceNationAthletesTime
1Livio Berruti, Ennio Preatoni, Sergio Ottolina, Pasquale Giannattasio39.6 seconds
2Andrzej Zielinski, Wieslaw Maniak, Marian Foik, Marian Dudziak39.6 seconds
3Arquimedes Herrera, Lloyd Murad, Rafael Romero, Hortensio Herrera Fucil39.6 seconds
4Edvin Ozolin, Boris Zubov, Gusman Kosanov, Boris Savchuk39.7 seconds
5Heinz Erbstosser, Rainer Berger, Peter Wallach, Volker Loffler40.1 seconds
6Malang Mane, Bassirou Doumya, Malick Diop, Alioune Sow40.2 seconds
7Anthony Francis Coutinho, Makhan Singh, Kenneth Lawrence Powell, Rajasekaran Pichaya40.5 seconds
8Iijima Hideo, Kamata Masaru, Asai Kiyoshi, Muro Yojiro40.6 seconds

Final

Venezuela and Italy tied the old Olympic record. The United States, Poland, France, Jamaica, and the Soviet Union all broke it, with the U.S. also breaking the world record. The United States' Bob Hayes ran the final 100m of the relay in a record setting 8.60 seconds, passing three teams and bringing the U.S. from 4th to 1st place. This remains the fastest anchor leg of all time.
PlaceLaneNationAthletesTime
17Paul Drayton, Gerry Ashworth, Richard Stebbins, Bob Hayes39.0 seconds WR
26Andrzej Zielinski, Wieslaw Maniak, Marian Foik, Marian Dudziak39.3 seconds
32Paul Genevay, Bernard Laidebeur, Claude Piquemal, Jocelyn Delecour39.3 seconds
44Pablo McNeil, Patrick Robinson, Lynn Headley, Dennis Johnson39.4 seconds
58Edvin Ozolin, Boris Zubov, Gusman Kosanov, Boris Savchuk39.4 seconds
65Arquimedes Herrera, Lloyd Murad, Rafael Romero, Hortensio Herrera Fucil39.5 seconds
73Livio Berruti, Ennio Preatoni, Sergio Ottolina, Pasquale Giannattasio39.5 seconds
81Peter Radford, Ronald Jones, Menzies Campbell, Lynn Davies39.6 seconds