Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay

Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
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
20 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
Pentathlon		women
Decathlon	men

These are the official results of the men's 4 x 100 metres relay event at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. The event was held on Saturday the 19th and Sunday the 20th of October 1968. There were a total number of 24 nations competing. The race was won by the United States, beating Cuba in world record time.

During the heats, Jamaica had equalled the world record 38.6 (38.65) and improved upon it in the semi-finals 38.3 (38.39).

The random seeding of the final had semifinal 1 winner, with the fastest time, Jamaica in lane 5, but heat 1 winner Cuba in lane one and runner up United States in lane 2, both regarded as inferior lanes. While Charles Greene got a quick start, USA struggled with poor handoffs so East Germany in lane 4 was the clear leader on the backstretch, with Jamaica and Cuba the closest competitors and Mel Pender racing to catch up. Through the turn Ronnie Ray Smith continued to chase Pablo Montes ahead of him on the inside. East Germany still had the lead going in to the final handoff, USA still behind Cuba but with a smooth handoff and France in lane 8 in competitive position. The East Germans took three attempts to finally make a handoff, losing ground. Once with baton in hand Jim Hines was clearly faster than Enrique Figuerola, catching him halfway down the straightaway and on to a two metre victory. Lennox Miller equally outran Harald Eggers, but Roger Bambuck was able to hold off Miller and dive for the bronze medal for France.

The USA's time was a Fully automatic timing world record that was faster than the hand timed mark from before the Olympics (also set at attitude at 440 yards). Miller had been the anchor of that previous record as well as the two Jamaican records earlier in the competition, though the 1967 USC record was never accepted as a world record because Miller was from a different country from his American college teammates (who included Earl McCullouch and the now infamous O. J. Simpson).

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
United States (USA) Charles Greene Mel Pender Ronnie Ray Smith Jim Hines	Cuba (CUB) Hermes Ramírez Juan Morales Pablo Montes Enrique Figuerola	France (FRA) Gérard Fenouil Jocelyn Delecour Claude Piquemal Roger Bambuck

Records

These were the standing World and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1968 Summer Olympics.

World Record	38.4yA	Earl McCullouch Fred Kuller O.J. Simpson Lennox Miller	Provo (USA)	June 17, 1967
Olympic Record	39.0	Paul Drayton Gerry Ashworth Richard Stebbins Bob Hayes	Tokyo (JPN)	October 21, 1964

Results

Final

Held on Sunday 20 October 1968

RANK	NATION	ATHLETES	TIME
	United States (USA)	• Charles Greene • Mel Pender • Ronnie Ray Smith • Jim Hines	38.24 (WR)
	Cuba (CUB)	• Hermes Ramírez • Juan Morales • Pablo Montes • Enrique Figuerola	38.40
	France (FRA)	• Gérard Fenouil • Jocelyn Delecour • Claude Piquemal • Roger Bambuck	38.43
4.	Jamaica (JAM)	• Errol Stewart • Michael Fray • Clifton Forbes • Lennox Miller	38.4
5.	East Germany (GDR)	• Heinz Erbstösser • Hartmut Schelter • Peter Haase • Harald Eggers	38.6
6.	West Germany (FRG)	• Karl-Peter Schmidtke • Gert Metz • Gerhard Wucherer • Joachim Eigenherr	38.7
7.	Italy (ITA)	• Sergio Ottolina • Ennio Preatoni • Angelo Sguazzero • Livio Berruti	39.2
8.	Poland (POL)	• Wieslaw Maniak • Edward Romanowski • Zenon Nowosz • Marian Dudziak	39.2

Semifinals

Held on Saturday 19 October 1968

Heat 1

RANK	NATION	ATHLETES	TIME
1.	Jamaica (JAM)	• Errol Stewart • Michael Fray • Clifton Forbes • Lennox Miller	38.3 (WR)
2.	East Germany (GDR)	• Heinz Erbstösser • Hartmut Schelter • Peter Haase • Harald Eggers	38.7
3.	West Germany (FRG)	• Karl-Peter Schmidtke • Gert Metz • Gerhard Wucherer • Joachim Eigenherr	38.9
4.	Poland (POL)	• Wieslaw Maniak • Edward Romanowski • Zenon Nowosz • Marian Dudziak	38.9
5.	Great Britain (GBR)	• Joseph Speake • Ron Jones • Ralph Banthorpe • Barrie Kelly	39.4
6.	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	• Raymond Fabien • Winston Short • Carl Archer • Edwin Roberts	39.5
7.	Ivory Coast (CIV)	• Atta Kouaukou • N'dri Kouame • Boy Diby • Gaoussou Kone	39.6
8.	Thailand (THA)	• Manikavasagam Jegathesan • Krishnan Thambusamy • Gunaratnam Rajalingam • Jai Hock Lim	40.8

Heat 2

RANK	NATION	ATHLETES	TIME
1.	Cuba (CUB)	• Hermes Ramírez • Juan Morales • Pablo Montes • Enrique Figuerola	38.6
2.	United States (USA)	• Charles Greene • Mel Pender • Ronnie Ray Smith • Jim Hines	38.6
3.	France (FRA)	• Gérard Fenouil • Jocelyn Delecour • Claude Piquemal • Roger Bambuck	38.8
4.	Italy (ITA)	• Sergio Ottolina • Ennio Preatoni • Angelo Sguazzero • Livio Berruti	39.4
5.	Ghana (GHA)	• Edward Owusu • Micheal Ahey • William Quaye • James Addy	39.9
—	Bahamas (BAH)	• Gerald Wisdom • Thomas Robinson • Bernard Nottage • Edwin Johnson	DQ
—	Nigeria (NGR)	• Timon Oyebami • Robert Ojo • Benedict Majekodunmi • Kola Abdulai	DQ
—	Soviet Union (URS)	• Aleksey Khlopotnov • Eugeny Siniaev • Nikolay Ivanov • Vladislav Sapeia	DQ

References

4 × 100 metres relay at the Summer Olympics

Summary

Men	1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016

Women	1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016

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