Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay

Men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Venue	Beijing National Stadium
Dates	August 22 August 23 (final)
Teams	16
Winning time	2:55.39 OR
Medalists
LaShawn Merritt Angelo Taylor David Neville Jeremy Wariner Kerron Clement* Reggie Witherspoon*   United States   Andretti Bain Michael Mathieu Andrae Williams Chris Brown Avard Moncur* Ramon Miller*   Bahamas   vacant

Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
5000 m		men		women
10,000 m		men		women
100 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men		women
3000 m steeplechase		men		women
4 × 100 m relay		men		women
4 × 400 m relay		men		women
Road events
Marathon		men		women
20 km walk		men		women
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men		women
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men		women
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men		women
Combined events
Heptathlon				women
Decathlon		men

The Men's 4 x 400 metres relay event at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 22 and 23 August at the Beijing National Stadium.^[1]

There were 16 NOCs competing at this event. These 16 NOCs were selected by the average of the two best marks at the qualifying period. The final was won by the United States in the new Olympic record time 2:55.39.

Records

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

World record	United States Andrew Valmon Quincy Watts Butch Reynolds Michael Johnson	2:54.29	Stuttgart, Germany	22 August 1993
Olympic record	United States (USA) Andrew Valmon Quincy Watts Michael Johnson Steve Lewis	2:55.74	Barcelona, Spain	8 August 1992

The following Olympic record was set during this competition.

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Time	OR	WR
23 August	Final	LaShawn Merritt Angelo Taylor David Neville Jeremy Wariner	United States	2:55.39	OR

Qualification summary

Pos	NOC	2 races		1	2
		Total	Average
1	United States	5:54.74	2:57.37	2:55.56	2:59.18
2	Bahamas	5:59.55	2:59.78	2:59.18	3:00.37
3	Jamaica	6:01.20	3:00.60	3:00.44	3:00.76
4	Poland	6:01.75	3:00.87	3:00.05	3:01.70
5	Russia	6:02.69	3:01.34	3:01.07	3:01.62
6	Great Britain	6:03.14	3:01.57	3:01.22	3:01.92
7	Germany	6:03.98	3:01.99	3:01.77	3:02.21
8	Australia	6:04.05	3:02.03	3:01.52	3:02.53
9	Belgium	6:04.64	3:02.32	3:02.13	3:02.51
10	Dominican Republic	6:04.97	3:02.48	3:02.48	3:02.49
11	Japan	6:05.20	3:02.60	3:02.44	3:02.76
12	Cuba	6:05.32	3:02.66	3:02.10	3:03.22
13	France	6:05.98	3:02.99	3:02.33	3:03.65
14	Trinidad and Tobago	6:06.52	3:03.26	3:02.92	3:03.60
15	Greece	6:07.86	3:03.93	3:02.21	3:05.65
16	South Africa	6:08.24	3:04.12	3:03.58	3:04.66
Reserves
17	Italy	6:08.77	3:04.38	3:03.66	3:05.11
18	Botswana	6:09.12	3:04.56	3:03.16	3:05.96
19	Ireland	6:09.14	3:04.57	3:04.43	3:04.71
20	Brazil	6:09.51	3:04.76	3:04.36	3:05.15

Results

All times shown are in seconds.

• Q denotes automatic qualification.
• q denotes fastest losers.
• DNS denotes did not start.
• DNF denotes did not finish.
• DQ denotes disqualified
• AR denotes area record.
• NR denotes national record.
• PB denotes personal best.
• SB denotes season's best.

Round 1

First 3 in each heat(Q) and the next 2 fastest(q) advance to the Final.

Rank	Heat	Lane	Nation	Competitors	Time	Notes
1	2	5	Great Britain	Andrew Steele, Robert Tobin, Michael Bingham, Martyn Rooney	2:59.33	Q, SB
2	2	3	Bahamas	Michael Mathieu, Avard Moncur, Ramon Miller, Andrae Williams	2:59.88	Q, SB
3	1	3	United States	David Neville, Kerron Clement, Reggie Witherspoon, Angelo Taylor	2:59.98	Q
4	2	7	Jamaica	Michael Blackwood, Allodin Fothergill, Sanjay Ayre, Ricardo Chambers	3:00.09	Q, SB
5	1	6	Belgium	Cédric Van Branteghem, Jonathan Borlée, Arnaud Ghislain, Kévin Borlée	3:00.67	Q, NR
6	1	8	Australia	Joel Milburn, Mark Ormrod, John Steffensen, Clinton Hill	3:00.68	q, SB
7	1	7	Poland	Marek Plawgo, Piotr Klimczak, Piotr Kędzia, Rafał Wieruszewski	3:00.74	q, SB
8	1	5	South Africa	Pieter Smith, Ofentse Mogawane, Alwyn Myburgh, L.J. van Zyl	3:01.26	SB
9	1	4	Cuba	Yunier Perez, Yunior Díaz, William Collazo, Omar Cisneros	3:02.24
10	1	2	France	Teddy Venel, Ydrissa Mbarke, Brice Panel, Richard Maunier	3:03.19
11	2	6	Germany	Simon Kirch, Kamghe Gaba, Ruwen Faller, Bastian Swillims	3:03.49
12	2	2	Trinidad and Tobago	Ato Modibo, Jovon Toppin, Cowin Mills, Stann Waithe	3:04.12	SB
13	2	4	Japan	Mitsuhiro Abiko, Dai Tamesue, Yoshihiro Horigome, Kenji Narisako	3:04.18	SB
14	2	9	Greece	Stylianos Dimotsios, Dimitrios Gravalos, Pantelis Melachroinoudis, Konstantinos Anastasiou	3:04.30	SB
15	2	8	Dominican Republic	Carlos Yohelin Santa, Arismendy Peguero, Pedro Mejía, Yoel Tapia	3:04.31	SB
DSQ	1	9	Russia	Maksim Dyldin, Vladislav Frolov, Anton Kokorin, Denis Alekseyev		Q

Final

Rank	Lane	Nation	Competitors	Time	Notes
01 !	7	United States	LaShawn Merritt, Angelo Taylor, David Neville, Jeremy Wariner	2:55.39	OR
02 !	5	Bahamas	Andretti Bain, Michael Mathieu, Andrae Williams, Chris Brown	2:58.03	SB
03 ! *	6	Great Britain	Andrew Steele, Robert Tobin, Michael Bingham, Martyn Rooney	2:58.81	SB
4	8	Belgium	Kévin Borlée, Jonathan Borlée, Cédric Van Branteghem, Arnaud Ghislain	2:59.37	NR
5	2	Australia	Sean Wroe, John Steffensen, Clinton Hill, Joel Milburn	3:00.02	SB
6	3	Poland	Rafał Wieruszewski, Piotr Klimczak, Piotr Kędzia, Marek Plawgo	3:00.32	SB
7	9	Jamaica	Michael Blackwood, Ricardo Chambers, Sanjay Ayre, Lanceford Spence	3:01.45
DQ	4	Russia	Maksim Dyldin, Vladislav Frolov, Anton Kokorin, Denis Alekseyev	DQ[2]

* On 14 September 2016, IOC officially stripped Russia of the bronze medal for doping violations. Reallocation has not taken place pending return of the medals to the IOC, but will be awarded to Great Britain upon receipt.