| | Event type
4 x 100 metres Relay, Men
| Date | 31 July – 1 August 1980 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Bolshaya arena, Tsentralny stadion imeni V.I. Lenina, Moskva |
| Participants | 64 from 16 countries |
With the USA boycotting the Moskva Olympics, the 4×100 was more open than it had ever been. The Poles and Soviet Union were considered the favorites with Cuba also given a shot. But in the heats, a very bad pass eliminated the Cuban team, who did not advance to the final. The final was close for the first leg but Eugen Ray of the GDR pulled away on the backstretch, only to see a poor exchange ruin his team’s chances. The Soviet Union pulled away on the third leg. Poland’s Marian Woronin gained slightly on the anchor leg but the USSR held on for the gold medal.
Round One (31 July 1980 — 10:30)
Top three in each heat and next two fastest advanced to the final.
Heat One
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (A) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Soviet Union |  URS | 38.68 | |||||||||
| Vladimir Muravyov • Nikolay Sidorov • Aleksandr Aksinin • Andrey Prokofyev | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | France |  FRA | 39.01 | |||||||||
| Antoine Richard • Pascal Barré • Patrick Barré • Hermann Panzo | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Bulgaria |  BUL | 39.25 | |||||||||
| Pavel Pavlov • Vladimir Ivanov • Ivaylo Karanyotov • Petar Petrov | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Jamaica |  JAM | 39.71 | |||||||||
| Don Quarrie • Colin Bradford • Michael Davis • Albert Lawrence | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Trinidad and Tobago |  TTO | 39.74 | |||||||||
| Edwin Noel • Hasely Crawford • Chris Brathwaite • Andrew Bruce | |||||||||||||
| 6 | – | Senegal |  SEN | 40.25 | |||||||||
| Boubacar Diallo • Momar N'Dao • Cheikh Touradou Diouf • Issa Fall | |||||||||||||
| 7 | – | Seychelles |  SEY | 41.71 | |||||||||
| Marc Larose • Régis Tranquille • Casimir Pereira • Vincent Confait | |||||||||||||
| – | Cuba |  CUB | – | ||||||||||
| Osvaldo Lara • Alejandro Casañas • Silvio Leonard • Tomás González | |||||||||||||
Heat Two
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (A) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | East Germany |  GDR | 38.65 | |||||||||
| Sören Schlegel • Eugen Ray • Bernhard Hoff • Thomas Munkelt | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Poland |  POL | 38.83 | |||||||||
| Krzysztof Zwoliński • Zenon Licznerski • Lech Dunecki • Marian Woronin | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Great Britain |  GBR | 39.20 | |||||||||
| Mike McFarlane • Allan Wells • Cameron Sharp • Drew McMaster | |||||||||||||
| =4 | – | Brazil |  BRA | 39.48 | |||||||||
| Miltão • Nelsinho • Katsuhiko Nakaya • Altevir de Araújo | |||||||||||||
| =4 | – | Nigeria |  NGR | 39.48 | |||||||||
| Hammed Adio • Kayode Elegbede • Samson Oyeledun • Peter Okodogbe | |||||||||||||
| 6 | – | Hungary |  HUN | 39.97 | |||||||||
| István Tatár • István Nagy • László Babály, Sr. • Ferenc Kiss | |||||||||||||
| 7 | – | Congo |  CGO | 40.09 | |||||||||
| Louis Nkanza • Théophile Nkounkou • Jean-Pierre Basségéla • Antoine Kiakouama | |||||||||||||
| 8 | – | Sierra Leone |  SLE | 42.53 | |||||||||
| Rudolph George • Sheku Boima • William Akabi-Davis • Walter During | |||||||||||||
Final (1 August 1980 — 17:50)
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (A) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Soviet Union | URS | 38.26 | |||||||||
| Vladimir Muravyov • Nikolay Sidorov • Aleksandr Aksinin • Andrey Prokofyev | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Poland | POL | 38.33 | |||||||||
| Krzysztof Zwoliński • Zenon Licznerski • Lech Dunecki • Marian Woronin | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | France | FRA | 38.53 | |||||||||
| Antoine Richard • Pascal Barré • Patrick Barré • Hermann Panzo | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Great Britain | GBR | 38.62 | |||||||||
| Mike McFarlane • Allan Wells • Cameron Sharp • Drew McMaster | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | East Germany | GDR | 38.73 | |||||||||
| Sören Schlegel • Eugen Ray • Bernhard Hoff • Thomas Munkelt | |||||||||||||
| 6 | – | Bulgaria | BUL | 38.99 | |||||||||
| Pavel Pavlov • Vladimir Ivanov • Ivaylo Karanyotov • Petar Petrov | |||||||||||||
| 7 | – | Nigeria | NGR | 39.12 | |||||||||
| Hammed Adio • Kayode Elegbede • Samson Oyeledun • Peter Okodogbe | |||||||||||||
| 8 | – | Brazil | BRA | 39.54 | |||||||||
| Miltão • Nelsinho • Katsuhiko Nakaya • Altevir de Araújo | |||||||||||||