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.

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.

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

First round

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

First round, heat 1

Place Nation Athletes Time (hand) Time (automatic) 1 Livio Berruti, Ennio Preatoni, Sergio Ottolina, Pasquale Giannattasio 39.7 39.74 2 Andrzej Zieliński, Wiesław Maniak, Marian Foik, Marian Dudziak 39.9 39.96 3 Peter Radford, Ronald Jones, Menzies Campbell, Lynn Davies 40.1 40.13 4 Huba Rozsnyai, Csaba Csutoras, Laszlo Mihalyfi, Gyula Rabai 40.3 40.32 5 Sydney Asiodu, Folu Erinle, James Omagbemi, Abdul Amu 40.4 40.44 6 Mazlan Hamzah, John Daukom, Canagasabai Kunalan, Mani Jegathesan 41.4 – — Jasim Karim Kuraishi, Samir Vincent, Khalid Tawfik Lazim, Khudher Zalada Did not finish –

First round, heat 2

Place Nation Athletes Time (hand) Time (automatic) 1 Paul Drayton, Gerry Ashworth, Richard Stebbins, Bob Hayes 39.8 39.83 2 Arquímedes Herrera, Lloyd Murad, Rafael Romero, Hortensio Fucil 40.1 40.10 3 Heinz Erbstosser, Rainer Berger, Peter Wallach, Volker Löffler 40.2 40.21 4 Malang Mané, Bassirou Doumbia, Malick Diop, Alioune Sow 40.5 40.55 5 Anthony Coutinho, Makhan Singh, Kenneth Powell, Rajasekaran Pichaya 40.6 40.68 6 Iijima Hideo, Kamata Masaru, Kiyoshi Asai, Yojiro Muro 41.0 – 7 Taweesit Arjtaweekul, Suthi Manyakass, Maitri Vilaikit, Chalit Kanitasut 41.8 –

First round, heat 3

Place Nation Athletes Time (hand) Time (automatic) 1 Paul Genevay, Bernard Laidebeur, Claude Piquemal, Jocelyn Delecour 39.8 39.84 2 Pablo McNeil, Patrick Robinson, Lynn Headley, Dennis Johnson 40.1 40.11 3 Edvin Ozolin, Boris Zubov, Gusman Kosanov, Boris Savchuk 40.1 40.19 4 Bob Lay, Eric Bigby, William Earle, Gary Holdsworth 40.6 40.64 5 Michael Okantey, Michael Ahey, Ebenezer Addy, Stanley Fabian Allotey 40.8 40.85 6 Aggrey Awori, Erasmus Amukun, James Odongo Oduka, Amos Omolo 41.4 – 7 Arnulfo Valles, Miguel Ebreo, Claro Pellosis, Rogelio Onofre 41.7 –

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

Okorafor took Amu's place for Nigeria.

The American team tied the old Olympic record at 39.5.

Place Nation Athletes Time (hand) Time (automatic) 1 Paul Drayton, Gerry Ashworth, Richard Stebbins, Bob Hayes 39.5 =OR 39.50 2 Paul Genevay, Bernard Laidebeur, Claude Piquemal, Jocelyn Delecour 39.6 39.66 3 Pablo McNeil, Patrick Robinson, Lynn Headley, Dennis Johnson 39.6 39.68 4 Peter Radford, Ronald Jones, Menzies Campbell, Lynn Davies 40.1 40.13 5 Robert William Lay, Eric James Bigby, William Joseph Earle, Gary Alfred Holdsworth 40.1 40.19 6 Sydney Asiodu, Folu Erinle, James Omagbemi, Lawrence Okoroafor 40.1 40.19 7 Huba Rozsnyai, Csaba Csutoras, Laszlo Mihalyfi, Gyula Rabai 40.3 40.31 8 Michael Okantey, Michael Ahey, Ebenezer Addy, Stanley Fabian Allotey 40.7 –

Semifinal 2

Place Nation Athletes Time (hand) Time (automatic) 1 Livio Berruti, Ennio Preatoni, Sergio Ottolina, Pasquale Giannattasio 39.6 39.63 2 Andrzej Zieliński, Wiesław Maniak, Marian Foik, Marian Dudziak 39.6 39.63 3 Arquimedes Herrera, Lloyd Murad, Rafael Romero, Hortensio Herrera Fucil 39.6 39.65 4 Edvin Ozolin, Boris Zubov, Gusman Kosanov, Boris Savchuk 39.7 39.70 5 Heinz Erbstosser, Rainer Berger, Peter Wallach, Volker Loffler 40.1 40.16 6 Malang Mané, Bassirou Doumya, Malick Diop, Alioune Sow 40.2 40.26 7 Anthony Francis Coutinho, Makhan Singh, Kenneth Lawrence Powell, Rajasekaran Pichaya 40.5 – 8 Iijima Hideo, Kamata Masaru, Asai Kiyoshi, Muro Yojiro 40.6 –

Final

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, 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 (hand) Time (automatic) 1 7 Paul Drayton, Gerry Ashworth, Richard Stebbins, Bob Hayes 39.0 WR 39.06 2 6 Andrzej Zieliński, Wiesław Maniak, Marian Foik, Marian Dudziak 39.3 39.36 3 2 Paul Genevay, Bernard Laidebeur, Claude Piquemal, Jocelyn Delecour 39.3 39.36 4 4 Pablo McNeil, Patrick Robinson, Lynn Headley, Dennis Johnson 39.4 39.49 5 8 Edvin Ozolin, Boris Zubov, Gusman Kosanov, Boris Savchuk 39.4 39.50 6 5 Arquimedes Herrera, Lloyd Murad, Rafael Romero, Hortensio Herrera Fucil 39.5 39.53 7 3 Livio Berruti, Ennio Preatoni, Sergio Ottolina, Pasquale Giannattasio 39.5 39.54 8 1 Peter Radford, Ronald Jones, Menzies Campbell, Lynn Davies 39.6 39.69

References

Official Report