Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay

Men's 4 × 400 metres relay
at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
VenueSeoul Olympic Stadium
Date30 September 1988 (heats)
1 October 1988 (final)
Competitors99 from 22 nations
Teams22
Winning time2:56.16 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Danny Everett
Steve Lewis
Kevin Robinzine
Butch Reynolds
Antonio McKay*
Andrew Valmon*
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Howard Davis
Devon Morris
Winthrop Graham
Bert Cameron
Trevor Graham*
 Jamaica
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Norbert Dobeleit
Edgar Itt
Jörg Vaihinger
Ralf Lübke
Bodo Kuhn*
Mark Henrich*
 West Germany
← 1984
1992 →

These are the official results of the Men's 4 × 400 metre relay event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. There were a total number of 21 nations competing.[1]

Summary

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In the semi-final round, the US team with reserves Antonio McKay and Andrew Valmon won the first semi with a time more than a second and a half faster than all the qualifiers from the second semi who were pressed by a stubborn Yugoslavian team. The second semi was barely won by East Germany in a highly competitive 3:00.60 which they were not able to duplicate the following day in the final.

In the final, US led off by the bronze medalist Danny Everett, started in lane 2. From the gun, Everett was making up the stagger on GDR's Jens Carlowitz immediately to his outside. Also advancing in lane 5 was Sunday Uti for Nigeria, clearly separating from Jamaica's Howard Davis to his inside, Uti having an apparent lead onto the homestretch. As Uit passed on the inside, Kenya's Tito Sawe accelerated past Australia's Robert Ballard, trying to keep up. Uti tied up a little on the straight, US and Nigeria passing about the same time. Everett's split timed at 44.0. America's young gold medalist Steve Lewis took the lead through the turn, as Moses Ugbusien did not maintain Uti's pace. After taking the baton in fourth place, Devon Morris blazed through the turn to position Jamaica in second place at the break. After that exuberance, Morris slowed the second half of the lap, but still maintained second place as the rest of the field closed behind him. But out front, Lewis took a 4 metre lead at the break and extended it to 25, putting the race away early. Lewis' split 43.4.

Mathias Schersing passed Ugbusien and in the last steps, Morris, on the final straightaway, giving East Germany second place at the handoff, but they were almost 3 seconds behind Kevin Robinzine. Running alone, Robinzine extended the lead as Jamaica battled back, Winthrop Graham passing Frank Möller on the home stretch and West Germany's Jörg Vaihinger pulling them into contention. After a 44.8 split, Robinzine passed to the newly crowned World Record holder and silver medalist Butch Reynolds. Almost 4 seconds later, Jamaica's 1983 world champion Bert Cameron was the next pursuer. Through the penultimate turn Ralf Lübke stuck to Cameron's shoulder, West Germany separating from East Germany's reigning world champion Thomas Schönlebe on the backstretch. All eyes were on Reynolds, would the US break the 20 year old world record. Lightbeam timing on the finish line said he missed it by .01, but when the official time was read, it equalled the world record. Jamaica finished more than four seconds later with the silver medal, with West Germany taking bronze.[2][3]

Medalists

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Gold Silver Bronze
 United States (USA)
Danny Everett
Steve Lewis
Butch Reynolds
Kevin Robinzine
 Jamaica (JAM)
Bert Cameron
Howard Davis
Winthrop Graham
Devon Morris
 West Germany (FRG)
Norbert Dobeleit
Edgar Itt
Ralf Lübke
Jörg Vaihinger

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics.

World Record 2:56.16 United States Vincent Matthews
United States Ron Freeman
United States Larry James
United States Lee Evans
Mexico City (MEX) October 20, 1968
Olympic Record 2:56.16 United States Vincent Matthews
United States Ron Freeman
United States Larry James
United States Lee Evans
Mexico City (MEX) October 20, 1968

The following Olympic records were set during this competition. The United States equalled the world record in the final.

Date Athlete Time OR WR
October 1, 1988 United States Danny Everett
United States Steve Lewis
United States Butch Reynolds
United States Kevin Robinzine
2:56.16 =OR =WR

Final

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  • Held on Saturday October 1, 1988
RANK NATION FINAL TIME
 United States (USA) Danny Everett
Steve Lewis
Kevin Robinzine
Butch Reynolds
2:56.16 =WR
 Jamaica (JAM) Howard Davis
Devon Morris
Winthrop Graham
Bert Cameron
3:00.30
 West Germany (FRG) Norbert Dobeleit
Edgar Itt
Jörg Vaihinger
Ralf Lübke
3:00.56
4.  East Germany (GDR) Jens Carlowitz
Mathias Schersing
Frank Möller
Thomas Schönlebe
3:01.13
5.  Great Britain (GBR) Brian Whittle
Kriss Akabusi
Todd Bennett
Philip Brown
3:02.00
6.  Australia (AUS) Robert Ballard
Mark Garner
Miles Murphy
Darren Clark
3:02.49
7.  Nigeria (NGR) Sunday Uti
Moses Ugbusien
Henry Amike
Innocent Egbunike
3:02.50
8.  Kenya (KEN) Tito Sawe
Lucas Sang
Paul Ereng
Simeon Kipkemboi
3:04.69

Semifinals

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  • Held on Friday September 30, 1988
RANK NATION HEAT 1 TIME
1.  United States (USA) Andrew Valmon
Kevin Robinzine
Antonio McKay
Steve Lewis
3:02.84
2.  Kenya (KEN) Tito Sawe
Lucas Sang
Paul Ereng
Simeon Kipkemboi
3:03.24
3.  Great Britain (GBR) Brian Whittle
Kriss Akabusi
Todd Bennett
Philip Brown
3:04.60
4.  Australia (AUS) Miles Murphy
Mark Garner
Robert Ballard
Darren Clark
3:06.63
5.  Barbados (BAR) Seibert Straughn
Richard Louis
Allan Ince
Elvis Forde
3:06.93
6.  Ivory Coast (CIV) Akissi Kpidi
René Djédjémel Mélédjé
Djétenan Kouadio
Gabriel Tiacoh
3:07.15
7.  Portugal (POR) Paulo Curvelo
Filipe Lomba
Antonio Abrantes
Alvaro Silva
3:07.75
8.  Canada (CAN) John Graham
Carl Folkes
Paul Osland
Anton Skerritt
3:09.48


RANK NATION HEAT 2 TIME
1.  East Germany (GDR) Jens Carlowitz
Frank Möller
Mathias Schersing
Thomas Schönlebe
3:00.60
2.  West Germany (FRG) Norbert Dobeleit
Mark Henrich
Jörg Vaihinger
Ralf Lübke
3:00.66
3.  Jamaica (JAM) Trevor Graham
Devon Morris
Bert Cameron
Howard Davis
3:00.94
4.  Nigeria (NGR) Sunday Uti
Moses Ugbusien
Henry Amike
Innocent Egbunike
3:01.13
5.  Yugoslavia (YUG) Branislav Karaulić
Slobodan Popović
Slobodan Branković
Ismail Mačev
3:01.59
6.  Japan (JPN) Hirofumi Koike
Kenji Yamauchi
Hiromi Kawasumi
Susumu Takano
3:03.80
7.  Senegal (SEN) Ousmane Diarra
Babacar Niang
Moussa Fall
Amadou Dia Ba
3:07.19
8.  Pakistan (PAK) Bashir Ahmed
Mohammad Sadaqat
Mohammad Afzal
Muhammad Fayyaz
3:09.50

Heats

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  • Held on Friday September 30, 1988
RANK NATION HEAT 1 TIME
1.  West Germany (FRG) Bodo Kuhn
Mark Henrich
Jörg Vaihinger
Ralf Lübke
3:03.90
2.  Great Britain (GBR) Brian Whittle
Paul Harmsworth
Todd Bennett
Philip Brown
3:04.18
3.  Japan (JPN) Hirofumi Koike
Kenji Yamauchi
Hiromi Kawasumi
Susumu Takano
3:05.93
4.  Australia (AUS) Robert Ballard
Mark Garner
Leigh Miller
Miles Murphy
3:05.93
5.  Barbados (BAR) Seibert Straughn
Richard Louis
Allan Ince
Elvis Forde
3:06.03
6.  Sierra Leone (SLE) Horace Dove-Edwin
Felix Sandy
Benjamin Grant
David Sawyer
3:10.47
7.  Oman (OMA) Sulaiman Al-Habsi
Mohamed Amer Al-Malki
Abdullah Al-Khalidi
• Mansour Al-Baloushi
3:12.89
8.  South Korea (KOR) Hwang Hong-cheol
Yun Nam-han
Yu Tae-gyeong
Jo Jin-saeng
3:14.71


RANK NATION HEAT 2 TIME
1.  Jamaica (JAM) Howard Burnett
Devon Morris
Trevor Graham
Howard Davis
3:04.00
2.  Yugoslavia (YUG) Branislav Karaulić
Slobodan Popović
Slobodan Branković
Ismail Mačev
3:05.62
3.  Portugal (POR) Paulo Curvelo
Filipe Lomba
Antonio Abrantes
Álvaro Silva
3:07.75
4.  East Germany (GDR) Jens Carlowitz
Michael Schimmer
Mathias Schersing
Thomas Schönlebe
3:08.13
5.  Canada (CAN) John Graham
Carl Folkes
Paul Osland
Anton Skerritt
3:09.52
6.  Antigua and Barbuda (ANT) Howard Lindsay
Alfred Browne
Oral Selkridge
Larry Miller
3:11.04


RANK NATION HEAT 3 TIME
1.  United States (USA) Andrew Valmon
Kevin Robinzine
Antonio McKay
Steve Lewis
3:02.16
2.  Kenya (KEN) Tito Sawe
Lucas Sang
Paul Ereng
Simeon Kipkemboi
3:05.21
3.  Nigeria (NGR) Sunday Uti
Moses Ugbusien
Henry Amike
Innocent Egbunike
3:06.59
4.  Senegal (SEN) Ousmane Diarra
Babacar Niang
Moussa Fall
Amadou Dia Ba
3:06.93
5.  Ivory Coast (CIV) Akissi Kpidi
Anatole Zongo Kuyo
Lancine Fofana
Gabriel Tiacoh
3:07.40
6.  Pakistan (PAK) Bashir Ahmad
Muhammad Sadaqat
Muhammad Afzal
Muhammad Fayyaz
3:08.54
7.  Botswana (BOT) Joseph Ramotshabi
Kebapetse Gaseitsiwe
Benny Kgarametso
Sunday Maweni
3:13.16

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games: Men's 4 × 400 metres Relay". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Summer Olympic World Records: Best Performances in Each Event". Bleacher Report.
  3. ^ "Seoul 1988 Athletics - Olympic Results by Discipline".
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