Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay
These are the official results of the women's 4 × 100 m relay event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. There were a total number of 19 nations competing.
This was a race between three strong teams with many athletes at their peak. From the gun, Alice Brown was out fastest for the USA in lane 6, almost making up the stagger on Zvetanka Ilieva leading off for Bulgaria on her outside. Meanwhile, East German star, 1987 World Champion Silke Möller was losing ground in lane 5 as Soviet Lyudmila Kondratyeva was gaining in lane 4. All the handoffs were efficient before both Kerstin Behrendt and Galina Malchugina closed the gap on the American Sheila Echols on the second leg. The American handoff to the year's phenom, world record holder Florence Griffith-Joyner was safe but not particularly efficient, the East German underhanded pass to Ingrid Auerswald is a textbook demonstration of an efficient handoff, and gave East Germany the lead. It would still be expected that the way FloJo dominated the sprint events, she would be able to pull away from Auerswald, but running the longer distance around the turn she only made a marginal gain and Marina Zhirova also put the Soviet team in close contention. Both the Soviet team and East German teams executed efficient handoffs, leaving Natalya Pomoshchnikova just slightly behind 1983 World Champion Marlies Goehr. The American handoff was not as efficient as Griffith-Joyner ran up on veteran anchor Evelyn Ashford leaving USA two metres behind. Pomoshchnikova accelerated and was able to pull even with Goehr while Ashford was in full stride and gaining. 50 metres from the finish it was three abreast across the center of the track. Ashford continued right past Goehr to a meter and a half victory. The three teams were so far ahead of the rest of the world that Pomoshchnikova, despite pulling a muscle 30 m from the finish, was able to limp across the finish line ahead of the West German team for the bronze medal.
Records
These were the standing World and Olympic records prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics.| World Record | 41.37 |  Silke Gladisch Sabine Rieger Ingrid Auerswald Marlies Göhr | Canberra | October 6, 1985 |
| Olympic Record | 41.60 | Romy Müller Bärbel Wöckel Ingrid Auerswald Marlies Göhr | Moscow | August 1, 1980 |
Final
- Held on Saturday 1988-10-01
| RANK | NATION | ATHLETES | TIME |
| • Alice Brown • Sheila Echols • Florence Griffith-Joyner • Evelyn Ashford | 41.98 | ||
| • Silke Möller • Kerstin Behrendt • Ingrid Lange • Marlies Goehr | 42.09 | ||
| • Lyudmila Kondratyeva • Galina Malchugina • Marina Zhirova • Natalya Pomoshchnikova | 42.75 | ||
| 4. | • Sabine Richter • Ulrike Sarvari • Andrea Thomas • Ute Thimm | 42.76 | |
| 5. | • Zvetanka Ilieva • Valia Demireva • Nadeyda Gueorguieva • Yordanka Donkova | 43.02 | |
| 6. | • Joanna Smolarek • Jolanta Janota • Ewa Pisiewicz • Agnieszka Siwek | 43.93 | |
| 7. | • Françoise Leroux • Muriel Leroy • Laurence Bily • Patricia Girard | 44.02 | |
| — | • Ethlyn Tate • Grace Jackson • Juliet Cuthbert • Merlene Ottey | DNS |
Semifinals
- Heat 1
| RANK | NATION | ATHLETES | TIME |
| 1. | • Lyudmila Kondratyeva • Galina Malchugina • Marina Zhirova • Natalya Pomoshchnikova | 42.01 | |
| 2. | • Silke Möller • Kerstin Behrendt • Ingrid Lange • Marlies Goehr | 42.23 | |
| 3. | • Ethlyn Tate • Grace Jackson • Juliet Cuthbert • Merlene Ottey | 43.30 | |
| 4. | • Joanna Smolarek • Jolanta Janota • Ewa Pisiewicz • Agnieszka Siwek | 43.44 | |
| 5. | • Nelli Fiere-Cooman • Marjan Olyslager • Gretha Tromp • Els Vader | 43.48 | |
| 6. | • Sallyanne Short • Bev Kinch • Simmone Jacobs • Paula Dunn | 43.50 | |
| 7. | • Anna Rita Angotzi • Rosella Tarolo • Daniela Ferrian • Marisa Masullo | 43.97 | |
| 8. | • Maria Tsoni • Maria Tsoni • Katerina Koffa • Marina Skordi | 45.74 |
- Heat 2
| RANK | NATION | ATHLETES | TIME |
| 1. | • Alice Brown • Sheila Echols • Florence Griffith-Joyner • Evelyn Ashford | 42.12 | |
| 2. | • Sabine Richter • Ulrike Sarvari • Andrea Thomas • Ute Thimm | 42.69 | |
| 3. | • Zvetanka Ilieva • Valia Demireva • Nadeyda Gueorguieva • Yordanka Donkova | 43.07 | |
| 4. | • Françoise Leroux • Muriel Leroy • Laurence Bily • Patricia Girard | 43.66 | |
| 5. | • Angela Bailey • Angela Phipps • Angella Taylor-Issajenko • Katie Anderson | 43.82 | |
| 6. | • Veronica Bawuah • Diana Yankey • Mercy Addy • Martha Appiah | 44.30 | |
| 7. | • Zhang Xiaoqiong • Liu Shaomei • Xie Zhiling • Zhang Caihua | 44.36 | |
| — | • Amparo Caicedo • Norfalia Carabali • Olga Escalante • Ximena Restrepo | DNS |
Heats
- Heat 1
| RANK | NATION | ATHLETES | TIME |
| 1. | • Maia Azarashvili • Galina Malchugina • Marina Zhirova • Natalya Pomoshchnikova | 42.88 | |
| 2. | • Sabine Richter • Ulrike Sarvari • Andrea Thomas • Ute Thimm | 42.99 | |
| 3. | • Françoise Leroux • Muriel Leroy • Laurence Bily • Marie-Christine Cazier-Ballo | 43.43 | |
| 4. | • Tsvetanka Ilieva • Valya Valova-Demireva • Nadezhda Georgieva • Yordanka Donkova | 43.92 | |
| 5. | • Amparo Caicedo • Norfalia Carabali • Olga Escalante • Ximena Restrepo | 45.46 | |
| 6. | • Chang Feng-hua • Chen Wen-xing • Chen Ya-li • Wang Shu-hua | 46.21 |
- Heat 2
| RANK | NATION | ATHLETES | TIME |
| 1. | • Silke Möller • Kerstin Behrendt • Ingrid Lange • Marlies Goehr | 42.92 | |
| 2. | • Ethlyn Tate • Grace Jackson • Laurel Johnson • Vivienne Spence | 43.50 | |
| 3. | • Angela Bailey • Angela Phipps • Angella Taylor-Issajenko • Katie Anderson | 43.92 | |
| 4. | • Zhang Xiaoqiong • Liu Shaomei • Xie Zhiling • Zhang Caihua | 44.29 | |
| 5. | • Anna Rita Angotzi • Rosella Tarolo • Daniela Ferrian • Marisa Masullo | 44.33 | |
| 6. | • Maria Tsoni • Voula Patoulidou • Georgia Zouganeli • Marina Skordi | 45.44 | |
| 7. | • Yun Mi-gyeong • U Yang-ja • Park Mi-seon • Lee Young-sook | 45.83 |
- Heat 3
| RANK | NATION | ATHLETES | TIME |
| 1. | • Alice Brown • Sheila Echols • Dannette Young • Evelyn Ashford | 42.39 | |
| 2. | • Sallyanne Short • Bev Kinch • Simmone Jacobs • Paula Dunn | 43.91 | |
| 3. | • Nelli Fiere-Cooman • Marjan Olyslager • Gretha Tromp • Els Vader | 43.96 | |
| 4. | • Joanna Smolarek • Jolanta Janota • Ewa Pisiewicz • Agnieszka Siwek | 43.98 | |
| 5. | • Veronica Bawuah • Diana Yankey • Mercy Addy • Martha Appiah | 44.12 | |
| 6. | • Oliver Acii • Grace Buzu • Farida Kyakutewa • Ruth Kyalisima | 46.55 |