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

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These are the official results of the men's 4 × 100 metres relay event at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. The event was held on Saturday and Sunday, 19 and 20 October 1968. There were a total number of 19 nations competing. The race was won by the United States in world record time. [1]

Contents

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 semifinal 2 winner Cuba in lane one and semifinal 2 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. East Germany still had the lead going into the final handoff, USA still behind Cuba but with a smooth handoff and France 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. 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 by the IAAF because Miller was from a different country from his teammates (who included Earl McCullouch and O. J. Simpson).

Medalists

GoldSilverBronze
Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)
Charles Greene
Mel Pender
Ronnie Ray Smith
Jim Hines
Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba  (CUB)
Hermes Ramírez
Juan Morales
Pablo Montes
Enrique Figuerola
Flag of France.svg  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 Record38.4yA Flag of the United States.svg Earl McCullouch
Flag of the United States.svg Fred Kuller
Flag of the United States.svg O. J. Simpson
Flag of Jamaica.svg Lennox Miller
Provo (USA)17 June 1967
Olympic Record39.0 Flag of the United States.svg Paul Drayton
Flag of the United States.svg Gerry Ashworth
Flag of the United States.svg Richard Stebbins
Flag of the United States.svg Bob Hayes
Tokyo (JPN)21 October 1964

Results

Final

RANKNATIONATHLETESTIME
Gold medal with cup.svg Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)Charles Greene
Mel Pender
Ronnie Ray Smith
Jim Hines
38.24
(WR)
Silver medal with cup.svg Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba  (CUB)Hermes Ramírez
Juan Morales
Pablo Montes
Enrique Figuerola
38.40
Bronze medal with cup.svg Flag of France.svg  France  (FRA)Gérard Fenouil
Jocelyn Delecour
Claude Piquemal
Roger Bambuck
38.43
4.Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica  (JAM)Errol Stewart
Michael Fray
Clifton Forbes
Lennox Miller
38.4
5.Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  East Germany  (GDR)Heinz Erbstösser
Hartmut Schelter
Peter Haase
Harald Eggers
38.6
6.Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  West Germany  (FRG)Karl-Peter Schmidtke
Gert Metz
Gerhard Wucherer
Joachim Eigenherr
38.7
7.Flag of Italy.svg  Italy  (ITA)Sergio Ottolina
Ennio Preatoni
Angelo Sguazzero
Livio Berruti
39.2
8.Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland  (POL)Wieslaw Maniak
Edward Romanowski
Zenon Nowosz
Marian Dudziak
39.2

Semifinals

Heat 1

RANKNATIONATHLETESTIME
1.Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica  (JAM)Errol Stewart
Michael Fray
Clifton Forbes
Lennox Miller
38.3
(WR)
2.Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  East Germany  (GDR)Heinz Erbstösser
Hartmut Schelter
Peter Haase
Harald Eggers
38.7
3.Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  West Germany  (FRG)Karl-Peter Schmidtke
Gert Metz
Gerhard Wucherer
Joachim Eigenherr
38.9
4.Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland  (POL)Wieslaw Maniak
Edward Romanowski
Zenon Nowosz
Marian Dudziak
38.9
5.Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain  (GBR)Joseph Speake
Ron Jones
Ralph Banthorpe
Barrie Kelly
39.4
6.Flag of Trinidad and Tobago.svg  Trinidad and Tobago  (TRI)Raymond Fabien
Winston Short
Carl Archer
Edwin Roberts
39.5
7.Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Ivory Coast  (CIV)Atta Kouaukou
N'dri Kouame
Boy Diby
Gaoussou Kone
39.6
8.Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia  (MAS)Mani Jegathesan
Tambusamy Krishnan
Rajalingam Gunaratnam
Ooi Hock Lim
40.8

Heat 2

RANKNATIONATHLETESTIME
1.Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba  (CUB)Hermes Ramírez
Juan Morales
Pablo Montes
Enrique Figuerola
38.6
2.Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)Charles Greene
Mel Pender
Ronnie Ray Smith
Jim Hines
38.6
3.Flag of France.svg  France  (FRA)Gérard Fenouil
Jocelyn Delecour
Claude Piquemal
Roger Bambuck
38.8
4.Flag of Italy.svg  Italy  (ITA)Sergio Ottolina
Ennio Preatoni
Angelo Sguazzero
Livio Berruti
39.4
5.Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana  (GHA)Edward Owusu
Michael Ahey
William Quaye
James Addy
39.9
Flag of the Bahamas (1964-1973).png  Bahamas  (BAH)Gerald Wisdom
Thomas Robinson
Bernard Nottage
Edwin Johnson
DQ
Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria  (NGR)Timon Oyebami
Robert Ojo
Benedict Majekodunmi
Kola Abdulai
DQ
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union  (URS)Aleksey Khlopotnov
Eugeny Siniaev
Nikolay Ivanov
Vladislav Sapeia
DQ

Heats

Heat 1

RANKNATIONATHLETESTIME
1.Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba  (CUB)Hermes Ramírez
Juan Morales
Pablo Montes
Enrique Figuerola
38.7
2.Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)Charlie Greene
Mel Pender
Ronnie Ray Smith
Jim Hines
38.8
3.Flag of Trinidad and Tobago.svg  Trinidad and Tobago  (TTO)Raymond Fabien
Winston Short
Carl Archer
Edwin Roberts
38.9
4.Flag of the Bahamas (1964-1973).png  Bahamas  (BAH)Jerry Wisdom
Tom Robinson
Bernard Nottage
Edwin Johnson
39.4
5.Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria  (NGR)Timon Oyebami
Robert Ojo
Benedict Majekodunmi
Kola Abdulai
39.4
6.Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana  (GHA)Edward Owusu
Mike Ahey
William Quaye
James Addy
39.8
7.Flag of the Dominican Republic.svg  Dominican Republic  (DOM)Luis Soriano
Alberto Torres
Rafael Domínguez
Porfirio Veras
41.4

Heat 2

RANKNATIONATHLETESTIME
1.Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica  (JAM)Errol Stewart
Mike Fray
Clifton Forbes
Lennox Miller
38.6
2.Flag of France.svg  France  (FRA)Gérard Fenouil
Jocelyn Delecour
Claude Piquemal
Roger Bambuck
39.0
3.Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  West Germany  (FRG)Karl-Peter Schmidtke
Gert Metz
Gerhard Wucherer
Jochen Eigenherr
39.1
4.Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain  (GBR)Joseph Speake
Ron Jones
Ralph Banthorpe
Barrie Kelly
39.3
5.Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Ivory Coast  (CIV)Atta Kouakou
Kouami N'Dri
Boy Akba Diby
Gaoussou Koné
39.6
6.Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan  (JPN)Naoki Abe
Hiroomi Yamada
Shinji Ogura
Hideo Iijima
40.0
7.Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico  (MEX)Félix Bécquer
Enrique Labadie
Galdino Flores
Miguel Angel González
40.0

Heat 3

RANKNATIONATHLETESTIME
1.Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  East Germany  (GDR)Heinz Erbstößer
Hartmut Schelter
Peter Haase
Harald Eggers
38.9
2.Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union  (URS)Oleksiy Khlopotnov
Yevgeny Sinyayev
Nikolay Ivanov
Vladislav Sapeya
39.0
3.Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland  (POL)Wiesław Maniak
Edward Romanowski
Zenon Nowosz
Marian Dudziak
40.2
4.Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia  (MAS)Mani Jegathesan
Tambusamy Krishnan
Rajalingam Gunaratnam
Ooi Hock Lim
40.6
5.Flag of Italy.svg  Italy  (ITA)Sergio Ottolina
Ennio Preatoni
Angelo Sguazzero
Livio Berruti
41.5

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References

  1. "Athletics at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games: Men's 4 × 100 metres Relay". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2017.