Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay

Men's 4 x 400 metres relay at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
Dates	August 6 (heats) August 7 (final)
Teams	15
Winning time	3:10.4
Medalists
Roy Cochran Cliff Bourland Arthur Harnden Mal Whitfield   United States   Jean Kerebel Francis Schewetta Robert Chef d'Hôtel Jacques Lunis   France   Kurt Lundquist Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt Folke Alnevik Rune Larsson   Sweden

Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
80 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men
Road events
Marathon		men
10 km walk		men
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Decathlon		men

The men's 4 x 400 metres relay event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place on 7 August and 7 August. The United States team won the final with a time of 3:10.4.

Records

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

World record Olympic record

United States (Edgar Ablowich, Bill Carr, Ivan Fuqua, Karl Warner)

3:08.2

Los Angeles, United States

7 August 1932

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date	Time	Round
Friday, 6 August 1948	17:30	Round 1
Saturday, 7 August 1948	16:50	Final

Results

Round 1

The first two teams in each heat qualified for the Final.^[1]

Heat 1

Rank	Nation	Competitors	Time	Notes
1	United States	Cliff Bourland, Roy Cochran, Arthur Harnden, Mal Whitfield	3:12.6	Q
2	Italy	Ottavio Missoni, Luigi Paterlini, Gianni Rocca, Antonio Siddi	3:14.0	Q
3	Great Britain	Leslie Lewis, Martin Pike, Derek Pugh, Bill Roberts	3:14.2
4	Switzerland	Oskar Hardmeier, Walter Keller, Max Trepp, Karl Volkmer	3:23.0
-	Ireland	Charles Denroche, Paul Dolan, Reggie Myles, Jimmy Reardon	DSQ

Heat 2

Rank	Nation	Competitors	Time	Notes
1	Jamaica	Leslie Laing, Herb McKenley, George Rhoden, Arthur Wint	3:14.0	Q
2	France	Robert Chef d'Hôtel, Jean Kerebel, Jacques Lunis, Francis Schewetta	3:17.0	Q
3	Canada	Bill LaRochelle, Ernie McCullough, Bob McFarlane, Don McFarlane	3:19.0
4	Chile	Gustavo Ehlers, Sergio Guzmán, Jaime Itlmann, Carlos Silva	3:23.8
-	Turkey	Doğan Acarbay, Seydi Dinçtürk, Kemal Horulu, Rıza Maksut İşman	3:35.0

Heat 3

Rank	Nation	Competitors	Time	Notes
1	Finland	Runar Holmberg, Bebbe Storskrubb, Tauno Suvanto, Olavi Talja	3:20.6	Q
2	Sweden	Folke Alnevik, Rune Larsson, Kurt Lundquist, Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt	3:21.0	Q
3	Argentina	Hermenegildo Alberti, Guillermo Avalos, Guillermo Evans, Antonio Pocovi	3:21.2
4	Yugoslavia	Jerko Bulić, Aleksandar Ćosić, Marko Račič, Zvonko Sabolović	3:25.4
-	Greece	Vasilios Mavroidis, Stefanos Petrakis, Lazaros Petropoulakis, Stylianos Stratakos	3:33.0

Final

Rank	Nation	Competitors	Time	Notes
	United States	Cliff Bourland, Roy Cochran, Arthur Harnden, Mal Whitfield	3:10.4
	France	Robert Chef d'Hôtel, Jean Kerebel, Jacques Lunis, Francis Schewetta	3:14.8
	Sweden	Folke Alnevik, Rune Larsson, Kurt Lundquist, Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt	3:16.0
4	Finland	Runar Holmberg, Bebbe Storskrubb, Tauno Suvanto, Olavi Talja	3:24.8
	Jamaica	Leslie Laing, Herb McKenley, George Rhoden, Arthur Wint		DNF
	Italy	Ottavio Missoni, Luigi Paterlini, Gianni Rocca, Antonio Siddi		DNF

Key: DNF = Did not finish

References

• 1948 Summer Olympics results: Men's 4x400 metre relay, from http://www.sports-reference.com/; retrieved 2010-06-23.

1. THE OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE XIV OLYMPIAD. LONDON: THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE XIV OLYMPIAD. 1948. p. 259. Retrieved 24 February 2015.