The 4 × 400 metres relay races at the 1984 Summer Olympics was contested as part of the athletics program.
Summary The final saw Sunday Uti start off with a strong leg in lane 7, giving the Nigerian team the lead going in to the first handoff. Moses Ugbusien took the baton rather casually, the slow start giving Darren Clark the chance to pass during the curve, putting Australia into the lead at the break. Taking an efficient tangent from lane 8, Ray Armstead gained ground on Ugbusien, moving to his shoulder to try to make a pass for the Americans on the stretch, 4 meters behind Clark who was running a 43.86 split, which exactly equalled Lee Evans' world record at the time. Ugbusien didn't relent and the two teams passed virtually even. On the handoff, Alonzo Babers got the edge, trying to keep up with Rotimi Peters. The long striding Babers took off in pursuit of Gary Minihan, with the three teams well ahead of the next pursuing team from Great Britain. Coming off the final turn, Babers smoothly went past Minihan and pulled away to a 7-meter lead by the handoff to Antonio McKay.Mens X Metres Relay at Sports Reference Behind the action at the front, Todd Bennett steadily chipped away what was more than a 10-meter deficit to put Britain but a step behind Nigeria at the final handoff. McKay kept the American lead for the victory. There was a battle for the other medals, with Rick Mitchell holding the Australian advantage of about two meters over Innocent Egbunike for Nigeria, with Phil Brown another step back for Britain. With Egbunike training at an American university Azusa Pacific, he was quite familiar to the spectators. Down the backstretch, Egbunike gained on Mitchell, moving on to his outside shoulder to pounce coming off the final turn. Behind Egbunike, Brown was staying in close contact still on the inside. Then, as Egbunike attacked, Brown went to the outside making it three abreast with 70 meters to go. Mitchell couldn't keep up, but Egbunike and Brown ran stride for stride for 50 meters. In the final 20 meters, Brown gained a slight advantage and crossed the line ahead for the silver medal. Nigeria's consolation was the African continental record.
Medalists Ray ArmsteadAlonzo BabersAntonio McKaySunder NixWalter McCoy*Willie Smith* Kriss AkabusiTodd BennettGarry Cook Phil Brown Innocent EgbunikeRotimi PetersMoses UgbusienSunday Uti
Note: * mark athletes who ran in the heats only
Abbreviations Q automatic qualification q qualification by rankDNS did not startNM no markOR olympic recordWR world recordAR area recordNR national recordPB personal bestSB season best
Records These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1984 Summer Olympics.
World record 2:56.16 Vincent Matthews Ron Freeman Larry James Lee EvansMexico City (MEX)October 20, 1968 Olympic record 2:56.16 Vincent Matthews Ron Freeman Larry James Lee EvansMexico City (MEX)October 20, 1968
Results Final RankTeamNameResultNotes Sunder Nix, Ray Armstead, Alonzo Babers, Antonio McKay2:57.91 Kriss Akabusi, Garry Cook, Todd Bennett, Phil Brown2:59.13 Sunday Uti, Moses Ugbusien, Rotimi Peters, Innocent Egbunike2:59.324 Bruce Frayne, Darren Clark, Gary Minihan, Rick Mitchell2:59.705 Roberto Tozzi, Ernesto Nocco, Roberto Ribaud, Pietro Mennea3:01.446 Richard Louis, David Peltier, Clyde Edwards, Elvis Forde 3:01.60 7 John Goville, Moses Kyeswa, Peter Rwamuhanda, Mike Okot3:02.09 8 Michael Sokolowski, Doug Hinds, Brian Saunders, Tim Béthune3:02.82
Semi-final Heat 1 RankTeamNameResultNotes1 Sunder Nix, Walter McCoy, Willie Smith, Antonio McKay 3:00.19Q2 Kriss Akabusi, Garry Cook, Todd Bennett, Phil Brown3:02.98Q3 Michael Sokolowski, Doug Hinds, Brian Saunders, Tim Béthune3:03:93Q4 John Goville, Moses Kyeswa, Peter Rwamuhanda, Mike Okot3:04.02Q5 Martin Weppler, Uwe Schmitt, Jörg Vaihinger, Erwin Skamrahl3:04.696 Georges Kablan Degnan, Avognan Nogboum, René Djédjémel Mélédjé, Gabriel Tiacoh3:04.877 Tommy Johansson, Erik Josjö, Christer Gullstrand, Thomas Nyberg3:09.408 Susumu Takano, Shigenori Omori, Ryoichi Yoshida, Hiroki Fuwa3:10.73
Heat 2 RankTeamNameResultNotes1 Sunday Uti, Moses Ugbusien, Rotimi Peters, Innocent Egbunike3:02.22Q2 Peter Van Miltenburg, Gary Minihan, Bruce Frayne, Darren Clark3:03:79Q3 Roberto Tozzi, Ernesto Nocco, Roberto Ribaud, Donato Sabia 3:03:87Q4 Richard Louis, David Peltier, Clyde Edwards, Elvis Forde3:03:89Q5 João Batista da Silva, Wilson David Santos, José-Luiz Barbosa, Gerson A. Souza3:03:996 Steve Griffiths, Mark Senior, Karl Smith, Devon Morris 3:04.247 John Anzrah, Elijah Sogomo, Jason Opicho, David Kitur3:04.74
Heats Heat 1 RankTeamNameResultNotes1 Peter Van Miltenburg, Gary Minihan, Bruce Frayne, Rick Mitchell3:03:72Q2 Michael Sokolowski, Doug Hinds, Brian Saunders, Tim Béthune3:04.47Q3 Anton Skerritt, Michael Puckerin, Derek Archer, Michael Paul 3:06.81q4 Tommy Johansson, Erik Josjö, Christer Gullstrand, Thomas Nyberg3:07.32q5 Shigenori Omori, Ryoichi Yoshida, Hiroki Fuwa, Susumu Takano3:08.16q6 Leonardo Loforte, Pedro Gonçalvo, André Titos, Henrique Ferreira3:08.95 7 Rashid Al-Jirbi, Ibrahim Khamis, Mubarak Ismail Amber, Ibrahim Aziz3:19.90 Heat 2 RankTeamNameResultNotes1 (Kriss Akabusi, Garry Cook, Todd Bennett, Phil Brown) 3:06.10Q2 (Roberto Ribaud, Ernesto Nocco, Mauro Zuliani, Donato Sabia) 3:06.28Q3 (John Goville, Moses Kyeswa, Peter Rwamuhanda, Mike Okot) 3:06.65q4 (Yann Quentrec, Didier Dubois, Jacques Fellice, Aldo Canti) 3:08.335 (Alfred Browne, Larry Miller, Howard Lindsay, Dale Jones) 3:10.956 (Guy Hill, Jerry Molyneaux, Dean Greenaway, Lindel Hodge) 3:11.897 (Ernest Tché-Noubossie, Jean-Pierre Abossolo-Ze, Barnabe Messomo, Mama Moluh) 3:16.00 Heat 3 RankTeamNameResultNotes1 Richard Louis, David Peltier, Clyde Edwards, Elvis Forde3:03:31Q2 Martin Weppler, Uwe Schmitt, Thomas Giessing, Erwin Skamrahl3:03:33Q3 Georges Kablan Degnan, Avognan Nogboum, René Djédjémel Mélédjé, Gabriel Tiacoh3:03:50 q 4 Steve Griffiths, Mark Senior, Dennis Wallace, Devon Morris3:03:85q5 (João Batista da Silva, José Luíz Barbosa, Antônio Dias Ferreira, Gerson A. Souza) 3:05.08q
Heat 4 RankTeamNameResultNotes1 (Willie Smith, Ray Armstead, Alonzo Babers, Walter McCoy) 3:01.44Q2 (John Anzrah, Simon Kitur, Jason Opicho, Elijah Sogomo) 3:06.07Q3 (Sunday Uti, Moses Ugbusien, Rotimi Peters, Innocent Egbunike) 3:06.34q4 (Manuel González, Benjamín González, Antonio Sánchez, Angel Heras) 3:08.795 (Barakat Al-Sharji, Amor Alheshimi, Sulaiman Alakbary, Mohamed Amer Al-Malky) 3:15.87
See also Athletics at the Friendship Games – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay
References
External links Results