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.[1]

Men's 4 × 100 metres relay
at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad
VenueOlympic Stadium
Dates20–21 October 1964
Competitors85 from 21 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Paul Drayton
Gerry Ashworth
Richard Stebbins
Bob Hayes
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Andrzej Zieliński
Wieslaw Maniak
Marian Foik
Marian Dudziak
 Poland
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Paul Genevay
Bernard Laidebeur
Claude Piquemal
Jocelyn Delecour
 France
← 1960
1968 →
Official Video Highlights @54:25 Video on YouTube

The traditionally strong American team was weakened by the injuries to Mel Pender and Trent Jackson. The defending champions United Team of Germany (with no returning members) failed to get out of the semi-finals.

The final began with Andrzej Zieliński 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 (plus the stagger) 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. Hayes making up the gap halfway down the straightaway then pulled 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 8.6 seconds according to some estimate. This remains the fastest anchor leg of all time.[2][3][4][1]

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

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First round

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

First round, heat 1

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Place Nation Athletes Time
1   Italy Livio Berruti, Ennio Preatoni, Sergio Ottolina, Pasquale Giannattasio 39.7 seconds
2   Poland Andrzej Zieliński, Wieslaw Jan Maniak, Marian Foik, Marian Dudziak 39.9 seconds
3   Great Britain Peter Radford, Ronald Jones, Menzies Campbell, Lynn Davies 40.1 seconds
4   Hungary Huba Rozsnyai, Csaba Csutoras, Laszlo Mihalyfi, Gyula Rabai 40.3 seconds
5   Nigeria Sydney Asiodu, Folu Erinle, James Omagbemi, Abdul Amu 40.4 seconds
6   Malaysia Mazlan Hamzah, John Daukom, Canagasabai Kunalan, Mani Jegathesan 41.4 seconds
  Iraq Jasim Karim Kuraishi, Samir Vincent, Khalid Tawfik Lazim, Khudher Zalada Did not finish

First round, heat 2

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Place Nation Athletes Time
1   United States Paul Drayton, Gerry Ashworth, Richard Stebbins, Bob Hayes 39.8 seconds
2   Venezuela Arquímedes Herrera, Lloyd Murad, Rafael Romero, Hortensio Fucil 40.1 seconds
3   United Team of Germany Heinz Erbstosser, Rainer Berger, Peter Wallach, Volker Löffler 40.2 seconds
4   Senegal Malang Mané, Bassirou Doumbia, Malick Diop, Alioune Sow 40.5 seconds
5   India Anthony Coutinho, Makhan Singh, Kenneth Powell, Rajasekaran Pichaya 40.6 seconds
6   Japan Iijima Hideo, Kamata Masaru, Kiyoshi Asai, Yojiro Muro 41.0 seconds
7   Thailand Taweesit Arjtaweekul, Suthi Manyakass, Maitri Vilaikit, Chalit Kanitasut 41.8 seconds

First round, heat 3

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Place Nation Athletes Time
1   France Paul Genevay, Bernard Laidebeur, Claude Piquemal, Jocelyn Delecour 39.8 seconds
2   Jamaica Pablo McNeil, Patrick Robinson, Lynn Headley, Dennis Johnson 40.1 seconds
3   Soviet Union Edvin Ozolin, Boris Zubov, Gusman Kosanov, Boris Savchuk 40.1 seconds
4   Australia Bob Lay, Eric Bigby, William Earle, Gary Holdsworth 40.6 seconds
5   Ghana Michael Okantey, Michael Ahey, Ebenezer Addy, Stanley Fabian Allotey 40.8 seconds
6   Uganda Aggrey Awori, Erasmus Amukun, James Odongo Oduka, Amos Omolo 41.4 seconds
7   Philippines Arnulfo Valles, Miguel Ebreo, Claro Pellosis, Rogelio Onofre 41.7 seconds

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

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Okorafor took Amu's place for Nigeria.

The American team tied the old Olympic record at 39.5 seconds.

Place Nation Athletes Time
1   United States Paul Drayton, Gerry Ashworth, Richard Stebbins, Bob Hayes 39.5 seconds =OR
2   France Paul Genevay, Bernard Laidebeur, Claude Piquemal, Jocelyn Delecour 39.7 seconds
3   Jamaica Pablo McNeil, Patrick Robinson, Lynn Headley, Dennis Johnson 39.6 seconds
4   Great Britain Peter Radford, Ronald Jones, Menzies Campbell, Lynn Davies 40.1 seconds
5   Australia Robert William Lay, Eric James Bigby, William Joseph Earle, Gary Alfred Holdsworth 40.1 seconds
6   Nigeria Sydney Asiodu, Folu Erinle, James Omagbemi, Lawrence Okoroafor 40.1 seconds
7   Hungary Huba Rozsnyai, Csaba Csutoras, Laszlo Mihalyfi, Gyula Rabai 40.3 seconds
8   Ghana Michael Okantey, Michael Ahey, Ebenezer Addy, Stanley Fabian Allotey 40.7 seconds

Semifinal 2

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Place Nation Athletes Time
1   Italy Livio Berruti, Ennio Preatoni, Sergio Ottolina, Pasquale Giannattasio 39.6 seconds
2   Poland Andrzej Zieliński, Wieslaw Maniak, Marian Foik, Marian Dudziak 39.6 seconds
3   Venezuela Arquimedes Herrera, Lloyd Murad, Rafael Romero, Hortensio Herrera Fucil 39.6 seconds
4   Soviet Union Edvin Ozolin, Boris Zubov, Gusman Kosanov, Boris Savchuk 39.7 seconds
5   United Team of Germany Heinz Erbstosser, Rainer Berger, Peter Wallach, Volker Loffler 40.1 seconds
6   Senegal Malang Mané, Bassirou Doumya, Malick Diop, Alioune Sow 40.2 seconds
7   India Anthony Francis Coutinho, Makhan Singh, Kenneth Lawrence Powell, Rajasekaran Pichaya 40.5 seconds
8   Japan Iijima Hideo, Kamata Masaru, Asai Kiyoshi, Muro Yojiro 40.6 seconds

Final

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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 8.6 seconds, passing three teams and bringing the U.S. from 4th to 1st place. This was considered the fastest anchor leg of all time until the 1980s.

Place Lane Nation Athletes Time
1 7   United States Paul Drayton, Gerry Ashworth, Richard Stebbins, Bob Hayes 39.0 seconds WR
2 6   Poland Andrzej Zieliński, Wieslaw Maniak, Marian Foik, Marian Dudziak 39.3 seconds
3 2   France Paul Genevay, Bernard Laidebeur, Claude Piquemal, Jocelyn Delecour 39.3 seconds
4 4   Jamaica Pablo McNeil, Patrick Robinson, Lynn Headley, Dennis Johnson 39.4 seconds
5 8   Soviet Union Edvin Ozolin, Boris Zubov, Gusman Kosanov, Boris Savchuk 39.4 seconds
6 5   Venezuela Arquimedes Herrera, Lloyd Murad, Rafael Romero, Hortensio Herrera Fucil 39.5 seconds
7 3   Italy Livio Berruti, Ennio Preatoni, Sergio Ottolina, Pasquale Giannattasio 39.5 seconds
8 1   Great Britain Peter Radford, Ronald Jones, Menzies Campbell, Lynn Davies 39.6 seconds

References

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  1. ^ a b "Athletics at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games: Men's 4 × 100 metres Relay". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  2. ^ "Bob Hayes: A two-sport legend with speed to thrill". Fox News. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  3. ^ "Bob Hayes". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  4. ^ "Hayes deserves better place in history". ESPN. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  • Official Report