The women's 4 × 100 metres relay competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was held at the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange on 18–19 August.

Summary The United States entered as the defending Olympic champions, having set new world and Olympic records at the 2012 London Olympics. Jamaica were the reigning world champions from 2015, having defeated the Americans there. Germany had the fastest time of the year before the event (41.62 seconds) and the other main medal contenders included Great Britain and Netherlands (all three made the 2016 European podium).

During the second heat the United States missed their second handover which was caused by Kauiza Venancio of the Brazilian team bumping Allyson Felix as she approached the handoff to English Gardner. The American appeal was upheld, and they were given a second chance to qualify for the final, which the United States team accomplished with the fastest qualifying time of 41.77.

There was no further plot twist in the final. Even though the United States were along the curb in the less advantageous lane 1, Tianna Bartoletta shot out to the lead around the first turn, making up the stagger on Canada's Farah Jacques before the halfway point in the turn. It was a clean, unobstructed pass to Allyson Felix because Canada was still waiting for the incoming runner to arrive. Felix pulled away down the backstretch, with Jamaica's double sprint gold medalist Elaine Thompson separating from the rest of the field. As English Gardner ran a great turn, USA passed Germany in lane 4, while Jamaica was just about to make up the stagger on Trinidad and Tobago to their immediate outside. By the time Gardner handed off to Tori Bowie, the USA had a 3-metre lead over Jamaica, Great Britain just ahead of Trinidad and Tobago racing for bronze. On the run in, Bowie lost some ground on the lead over Jamaica's two time Olympic gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, but still held a comfortable lead, as Great Britain's Daryll Neita separated from Trinidad and Tobago's Khalifa St. Fort, who was also caught by Germany's Rebekka Haase before the line.

The British team claimed their national record. USA ran the second fastest time in history (only behind their own world record four years earlier). Jamaica ran the fifth fastest time in history.

The following evening the medals were presented by Adam Pengilly, IOC member, Great Brittan and Víctor López, Council Member of the IAAF.

Records Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record(Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, Carmelita Jeter)40.82London, United Kingdom10 August 2012Olympic record2016 World leading(Tatjana Pinto, Lisa Mayer, Gina Lückenkemper, Rebekka Haase)41.62Mannheim, Germany29 July 2016

The following national records were established during the competition:

Country Athletes Round Time Notes Great Britain Final 41.77 s

Schedule All times are Brazil time (UTC−3)

Date Time RoundThursday, 18 August 2016 11:20Round 1Friday, 19 August 2016 22:15Finals

Results

Round 1 Qualification rule: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) qualified.

Heat 1 RankLaneNationCompetitorsTimeNotes1 5 Simone Facey, Shashalee Forbes, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce 41.79 , 2 7 Asha Philip, Desirèe Henry, Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita 41.93 3 1 Olesya Povkh, Natalia Pohrebniak, Mariya Ryemyen, Yelyzaveta Bryzgina 42.49 , 4 4 Farah Jacques, Crystal Emmanuel, Phylicia George, Khamica Bingham 42.70 , 5 6 Yuan Qiqi, Wei Yongli, Ge Manqi, Liang Xiaojing 42.70 6 3 Jamile Samuel, Dafne Schippers, Tessa van Schagen, Naomi Sedney 42.88 7 8 Ewa Swoboda, Marika Popowicz-Drapała, Klaudia Konopko, Anna Kiełbasińska 43.33 8 2 Flings Owusu-Agyapong, Gemma Acheampong, Beatrice Gyaman, Janet Amponsah 43.37

Heat 2

RankLaneNationCompetitorsTimeNotes 1 7 Tatjana Pinto, Lisa Mayer, Gina Luckenkemper, Rebekka Haase 42.18 2 8 Gloria Asumnu, Blessing Okagbare, Jennifer Madu, Agnes Osazuwa 42.55 , 3 1 Semoy Hackett, Michelle-Lee Ahye, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Khalifa St. Fort 42.62 , 4 4 Floriane Gnafoua, Céline Distel-Bonnet, Jennifer Galais, Stella Akakpo 43.07 5 5 Ajla Del Ponte, Sarah Atcho, Ellen Sprunger, Salomé Kora 43.12 6 Rima Kashafutdinova, Viktoriya Zyabkina, Yuliya Rakhmanova, Olga Safronova 3 Bruna Farias, Franciela Krasucki, Kauiza Venancio, Rosângela Santos 2 Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner, Morolake Akinosun

Special Heat 3

RankLaneNationCompetitorsTimeNotes 1 2 Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner, Morolake Akinosun 41.77

Final RankLaneNationCompetitorsTimeNotes1Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner, Tori Bowie 41.01 6Christania Williams, Elaine Thompson, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce41.36 5Asha Philip, Desirèe Henry, Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita41.77 44Tatjana Pinto, Lisa Mayer, Gina Luckenkemper, Rebekka Haase42.1057Semoy Hackett, Michelle-Lee Ahye, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Khalifa St. Fort42.12 68Olesya Povkh, Natalia Pohrebniak, Mariya Ryemyen, Yelyzaveta Bryzgina42.36 72Farah Jacques, Crystal Emmanuel, Phylicia George, Khamica Bingham43.1583Gloria Asumnu, Blessing Okagbare, Jennifer Madu, Agnes Osazuwa43.21

Notes

References