| | Event type
4 x 400 metres Relay, Men
| Date | 7 – 8 September 1960 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Stadio Olimpico, Roma |
| Participants | 76 from 19 countries |
Led by 400 metre gold medalist Otis Davis and 400 hurdle gold medalist Glenn Davis, the US was favored in this event. Jack Yerman led off for the US and took the lead with 46.29. After three legs, the US led by about eight metres over Germany, when Otis Davis took the baton. Germany’s anchor was Carl Kaufmann, who had narrowly lost the 400 gold to Davis. With a comfortable lead, Davis was slightly outrun by Kaufmann, who actually closed in the first 200 metres, but the outcome was never in doubt, the US breaking the world record in 3:02.2 and winning by half a second.
UGARound One (7 September 1960 — 10:30)
Top three in each heat advanced to the semi-finals.
Heat One
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Unified Team of Germany |  GER | 3:10.4 | 3:10.58 | ||||||||
| Jochen Reske • Manfred Kinder • Jo Kaiser • Carl Kaufmann | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Canada |  CAN | 3:10.5 | 3:10.65 | ||||||||
| Ergas Leps • Joe Mullins • Sig Ohlemann • Terry Tobacco | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Yugoslavia |  YUG | 3:10.6 | 3:10.75 | ||||||||
| Srđan Savić • Ðani Kovač • Miloje Grujić • Viktor Šnajder | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Finland |  FIN | 3:11.7 | 3:11.90 | ||||||||
| Pentti Rekola • Börje Strand • Voitto Hellstén • Jussi Rintamäki | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Puerto Rico |  PUR | 3:13.9 | 3:13.91 | ||||||||
| Ovidio de Jesús • José Luis Villalongo • Ramón Vega • Germán Guenard | |||||||||||||
Heat Two
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | West Indies Federation |  WIF | 3:09.1 | 3:09.28 | ||||||||
| Mal Spence • Jim Wedderburn • Keith Gardner • George Kerr | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Poland |  POL | 3:09.5 | 3:09.67 | ||||||||
| Edward Bożek • Stanisław Swatowski • Bogusław Gierajewski • Jerzy Kowalski | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Italy |  ITA | 3:09.8 | 3:10.00 | ||||||||
| Giuseppe Bommarito • Mario Fraschini • Nerio Fossati • Renato Panciera | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Belgium |  BEL | 3:15.1 | 3:15.26 | ||||||||
| Marcel Lambrechts • Jos Lambrechts • Louis De Clerck • Roger Moens | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Luxembourg |  LUX | 3:21.7 | 3:21.87 | ||||||||
| Roger Bofferding • Felix Heuertz • Norbert Haupert • Ramon Humbert | |||||||||||||
Heat Three
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Switzerland |  SUI | 3:10.7 | 3:10.79 | ||||||||
| René Weber • Ernst Zaugg • Hansruedi Bruder • Christian Wägli | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | South Africa |  RSA | 3:16.1 | 3:16.32 | ||||||||
| Edward Jefferys • Edgar Davis • Gordon Day • Malcolm Spence | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Great Britain |  GBR | 3:20.3 | 3:20.47 | ||||||||
| Malcolm Yardley • Barry Jackson • John Wrighton • Robbie Brightwell | |||||||||||||
| – | Greece |  GRE | – | – | |||||||||
| Leonidas Kormalis • Konstantinos Moragiemos • Evangelos Depastas • Vasilios Sillis | |||||||||||||
Heat Four
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | United States |  USA | 3:10.4 | 3:10.58 | ||||||||
| Jack Yerman • Earl Young • Glenn Davis • Otis Davis | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Ghana |  GHA | 3:10.5 | 3:10.66 | ||||||||
| William Quaye • James Addy • Frederick Owusu • John Asare-Antwi | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Sweden |  SWE | 3:10.7 | 3:10.91 | ||||||||
| Hans-Olof Johansson • Per-Owe Trollsås • Lennart Jonsson • Alf Petersson | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Czechoslovakia |  TCH | 3:11.2 | 3:11.33 | ||||||||
| Zdeněk Váňa • Jan Šlégr • Jaroslav Jirásek • Josef Trousil | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Soviet Union |  URS | 3:12.1 | 3:12.31 | ||||||||
| Konstantin Grachov • Boris Kriunov • Vladimir Polyanichev • Arnold Matsulevich | |||||||||||||
Semi-Finals (7 September 1960 — 17:10)
Top three in each heat advanced to the final.
Heat One
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | South Africa | RSA | 3:06.4 | 3:06.53 | ||||||||
| Edward Jefferys • Edgar Davis • Gordon Day • Malcolm Spence | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Unified Team of Germany | GER | 3:07.4 | 3:07.60 | ||||||||
| Jochen Reske • Manfred Kinder • Jo Kaiser • Carl Kaufmann | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Great Britain | GBR | 3:07.5 | 3:07.67 | ||||||||
| Malcolm Yardley • Barry Jackson • John Wrighton • Robbie Brightwell | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Italy | ITA | 3:07.7 | 3:07.83 | ||||||||
| Giuseppe Bommarito • Mario Fraschini • Nerio Fossati • Renato Panciera | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Canada | CAN | 3:08.2 | 3:08.37 | ||||||||
| Ergas Leps • Joe Mullins • Sig Ohlemann • Terry Tobacco | |||||||||||||
| 6 | – | Yugoslavia | YUG | 3:10.2 | 3:10.34 | ||||||||
| Srđan Savić • Ðani Kovač • Miloje Grujić • Viktor Šnajder | |||||||||||||
Heat Two
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | United States | USA | 3:08.4 | 3:08.57 | ||||||||
| Jack Yerman • Earl Young • Glenn Davis • Otis Davis | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | West Indies Federation | WIF | 3:09.2 | 3:09.34 | ||||||||
| Mal Spence • Jim Wedderburn • Keith Gardner • George Kerr | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Switzerland | SUI | 3:09.7 | 3:09.77 | ||||||||
| René Weber • Ernst Zaugg • Hansruedi Bruder • Christian Wägli | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Poland | POL | 3:10.8 | 3:10.88 | ||||||||
| Edward Bożek • Stanisław Swatowski • Bogusław Gierajewski • Jerzy Kowalski | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Ghana | GHA | 3:10.9 | 3:11.03 | ||||||||
| William Quaye • James Addy • Frederick Owusu • John Asare-Antwi | |||||||||||||
| 6 | – | Sweden | SWE | 3:10.9 | 3:11.05 | ||||||||
| Hans-Olof Johansson • Per-Owe Trollsås • Lennart Jonsson • Alf Petersson | |||||||||||||
Final (8 September 1960 — 16:30)
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | Split (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | United States | USA | 3:02.2 | 3:02.37 | ||||
| 402 | Jack Yerman | 46.29 | – | 46.29 (1) | |||||
| 401 | Earl Young | 45.52 | – | 1:31.81 (1) | |||||
| 417 | Glenn Davis | 45.31 | – | 2:17.12 (1) | |||||
| 400 | Otis Davis | 45.25 | – | 3:02.37 (1) | |||||
| 2 | – | Unified Team of Germany | GER | 3:02.7 | 3:02.84 | ||||
| 268 | Jochen Reske | 47.11 | – | 47.11 (4) | |||||
| 266 | Manfred Kinder | 45.04 | – | 1:32.15 (2) | |||||
| – | Jo Kaiser | 45.83 | – | 2:17.98 (2) | |||||
| 267 | Carl Kaufmann | 44.86 | – | 3:02.84 (2) | |||||
| 3 | – | West Indies Federation | WIF | 3:04.0 | 3:04.13 | ||||
| 101 | Mal Spence | 46.58 | – | 46.58 (2) | |||||
| 102 | Jim Wedderburn | 46.41 | – | 1:32.99 (4) | |||||
| 99 | Keith Gardner | 45.70 | – | 2:18.7 (3) | |||||
| 100 | George Kerr | 45.64 | – | 3:04.33 (3) | |||||
| 4 | – | South Africa | RSA | 3:05.0 | 3:05.18 | ||||
| 108 | Edward Jefferys | 47.08 | – | 47.08 (3) | |||||
| 112 | Edgar Davis | 45.82 | – | 1:32.90 (3) | |||||
| 110 | Gordon Day | 46.39 | – | 2:19.29 (4) | |||||
| 109 | Malcolm Spence | 45.89 | – | 3:05.18 (4) | |||||
| 5 | – | Great Britain | GBR | 3:08.3 | 3:08.47 | ||||
| 627 | Malcolm Yardley | 47.26 | – | 47.26 (5) | |||||
| – | Barry Jackson | 46.89 | – | 1:34.15 (5) | |||||
| 626 | John Wrighton | 47.63 | – | 2:21.78 (5) | |||||
| 625 | Robbie Brightwell | 46.68 | – | 3:08.46 (5) | |||||
| 6 | – | Switzerland | SUI | 3:09.4 | 3:09.55 | ||||
| 221 | René Weber | 47.62 | – | 47.62 (6) | |||||
| – | Ernst Zaugg | 47.82 | – | 1:35.44 (6) | |||||
| – | Hansruedi Bruder | 46.87 | – | 2:22.31 (6) | |||||
| 222 | Christian Wägli | 47.24 | – | 3:09.55 (6) |