| | Event type
4 x 100 metres Relay, Men
| Date | 7 – 8 August 1992 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Estadio Olímpico de Montjuïc, Barcelona |
| Participants | 104 from 25 countries |
The US was back as the favorite, although Carl Lewis had failed to make the US team for the 100 metres. But in the 100 semi-finals, Mark Witherspoon had to retire with an Achilles’ injury and Lewis was brought back onto the relay squad. After the semi-finals they were thought to be threatened by the surprising team from Nigeria, who had won their heat in an African record of 38.21. In the final, Lewis received the baton with only a metre lead on the Nigerian anchor, Davidson Ezinwa. But his anchor leg is usually considered one of the fastest ever, challenging Bob Hayes anchor at Tokyo in 1964. Lewis was timed in 8.85 for his leg and the US won by over five metres in a world record 37.40.
Round One (7 August 1992)
Top three in each heat and next four fastest advanced to the semi-final.
Heat One (9:30)
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (A) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Cuba |  CUB | 38.81 | |||||||||
| Andrés Simón • Joel Lamela • Joel Isasi • Jorge Aguilera | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | United States |  USA | 38.95 | |||||||||
| Mike Marsh • Leroy Burrell • Dennis Mitchell • James Jett | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Japan |  JPN | 39.16 | |||||||||
| Shinji Aoto • Hisatsugu Suzuki • Satoru Inoue • Tatsuo Sugimoto | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Mexico |  MEX | 39.77 | |||||||||
| Genaro Rojas • Eduardo Nava • Raymundo Escalante • Alejandro Cárdenas | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Togo |  TOG | 39.77 | |||||||||
| Kouame Aholou • Boevi Lawson • Koukou Franck Amégnigan • Kossi Akoto | |||||||||||||
| 6 | – | Côte d'Ivoire |  CIV | 40.02 | |||||||||
| Franck Waota • Jean-Olivier Zirignon • Gilles Bogui • Ouattara Lagazane | |||||||||||||
| – | Belize |  BIZ | – | ||||||||||
| Emery Gill • Elston Shaw • Michael Joseph • John Palacio | |||||||||||||
Heat Two (9:40)
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (A) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | France |  FRA | 39.49 | |||||||||
| Max Morinière • Daniel Sangouma • Gilles Quénéhervé • Bruno Marie-Rose | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Unified Team |  EUN | 40.07 | |||||||||
| Pavel Galkin • Edvin Ivanov • Andrey Fedoriv • Vitaly Savin | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Sierra Leone |  SLE | 40.11 | |||||||||
| Francis Keita • Denton Guy-Williams • Paul Parkinson • Sanusi Turay | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Senegal |  SEN | 40.13 | |||||||||
| Charles-Louis Seck • Amadou M'Baye • Seydou Loum • Oumar Loum | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Portugal |  POR | 40.30 | |||||||||
| Luís Cunha • Pedro Curvelo • Luís Barroso • Pedro Agostinho | |||||||||||||
| – | Congo |  CGO | [41.26] | ||||||||||
| Médard Makanga • Michael Dzong • Armand Biniakounou • David Nkoua | |||||||||||||
Heat Three (9:50)
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (A) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Canada |  CAN | 39.34 | |||||||||
| Ben Johnson • Glenroy Gilbert • Peter Ogilvie • Bruny Surin | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Great Britain |  GBR | 39.73 | |||||||||
| Tony Jarrett • Jason John • Marcus Adam • Linford Christie | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Austria |  AUT | 39.86 | |||||||||
| Christoph Pöstinger • Thomas Renner • Andreas Berger • Franz Ratzenberger | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Ghana |  GHA | 40.11 | |||||||||
| John Myles-Mills • Eric Akogyiram • Emmanuel Tuffour • Nelson Boateng | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | United States Virgin Islands |  ISV | 40.48 | |||||||||
| Derry Pemberton • Neville Hodge • Mitch Peters • Wyndell Dickinson | |||||||||||||
| 6 | – | The Gambia |  GAM | 40.98 | |||||||||
| Dawda Jallow • Momodou Sarr • Abdulieh Janneh • Lamin Marikong | |||||||||||||
Heat Four (10:00)
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (A) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Nigeria |  NGR | 38.98 | |||||||||
| Osmond Ezinwa • Chidi Imoh • Olapade Adeniken • Davidson Ezinwa | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Spain |  ESP | 39.60 | |||||||||
| José Javier Arqués • Enrique Talavera • Juan Jesús Trapero • Sergio López | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Thailand |  THA | 39.91 | |||||||||
| Kriengkrai Narom • Seaksarn Boonrat • Niti Piyapan • Visut Watanasin | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | San Marino |  SMR | 42.08 | |||||||||
| Nicola Selva • Manlio Molinari • Dominique Canti • Aldo Canti | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Bangladesh |  BAN | 42.18 | |||||||||
| Golam Ambia • Mohamed Mehdi Hasan • Shahanuddin Choudhury • Mohamed Shah Jalal | |||||||||||||
| – | Jamaica |  JAM | – | ||||||||||
| Michael Green • Rudolph Mighty • Anthony Wallace • Ray Stewart | |||||||||||||
Semi-Finals (7 August 1992)
Top four in each heat advanced to the final.
Heat One (19:30)
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (A) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | United States | USA | 38.14 | |||||||||
| Mike Marsh • Leroy Burrell • Dennis Mitchell • Carl Lewis | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Cuba | CUB | 38.49 | |||||||||
| Andrés Simón • Joel Lamela • Joel Isasi • Jorge Aguilera | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Unified Team | EUN | 38.69 | |||||||||
| Pavel Galkin • Edvin Ivanov • Andrey Fedoriv • Vitaly Savin | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Japan | JPN | 38.81 | |||||||||
| Shinji Aoto • Hisatsugu Suzuki • Satoru Inoue • Tatsuo Sugimoto | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | France | FRA | 39.02 | |||||||||
| Max Morinière • Daniel Sangouma • Gilles Quénéhervé • Bruno Marie-Rose | |||||||||||||
| 6 | – | Ghana | GHA | 39.28 | |||||||||
| John Myles-Mills • Eric Akogyiram • Emmanuel Tuffour • Nelson Boateng | |||||||||||||
| 7 | – | Sierra Leone | SLE | 40.46 | |||||||||
| Francis Keita • Denton Guy-Williams • Paul Parkinson • Sanusi Turay | |||||||||||||
| – | Mexico | MEX | – | ||||||||||
| Genaro Rojas • Eduardo Nava • Raymundo Escalante • Alejandro Cárdenas | |||||||||||||
Heat Two (19:40)
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (A) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Nigeria | NGR | 38.21 | |||||||||
| Oluyemi Kayode • Chidi Imoh • Olapade Adeniken • Davidson Ezinwa | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Great Britain | GBR | 38.64 | |||||||||
| Tony Jarrett • John Regis • Marcus Adam • Linford Christie | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Austria | AUT | 39.34 | |||||||||
| Christoph Pöstinger • Thomas Renner • Andreas Berger • Franz Ratzenberger | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Côte d'Ivoire | CIV | 39.46 | |||||||||
| Franck Waota • Jean-Olivier Zirignon • Gilles Bogui • Ouattara Lagazane | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Spain | ESP | 39.62 | |||||||||
| José Javier Arqués • Enrique Talavera • Juan Jesús Trapero • Sergio López | |||||||||||||
| 6 | – | Thailand | THA | 39.73 | |||||||||
| Kriengkrai Narom • Seaksarn Boonrat • Niti Piyapan • Visut Watanasin | |||||||||||||
| 7 | – | Togo | TOG | 39.84 | |||||||||
| Kouame Aholou • Boevi Lawson • Koukou Franck Amégnigan • Kossi Akoto | |||||||||||||
| – | Canada | CAN | – | ||||||||||
| Ben Johnson • Glenroy Gilbert • Atlee Mahorn • Bruny Surin | |||||||||||||
Final (8 August 1992 — 19:20)
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (A) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | United States | USA | 37.40 | |||||||||
| Mike Marsh • Leroy Burrell • Dennis Mitchell • Carl Lewis | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Nigeria | NGR | 37.98 | |||||||||
| Oluyemi Kayode • Chidi Imoh • Olapade Adeniken • Davidson Ezinwa | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Cuba | CUB | 38.00 | |||||||||
| Andrés Simón • Joel Lamela • Joel Isasi • Jorge Aguilera | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Great Britain | GBR | 38.08 | |||||||||
| Marcus Adam • Tony Jarrett • John Regis • Linford Christie | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Unified Team | EUN | 38.17 | |||||||||
| Pavel Galkin • Edvin Ivanov • Andrey Fedoriv • Vitaly Savin | |||||||||||||
| 6 | – | Japan | JPN | 38.77 | |||||||||
| Shinji Aoto • Hisatsugu Suzuki • Satoru Inoue • Tatsuo Sugimoto | |||||||||||||
| 7 | – | Austria | AUT | 39.30 | |||||||||
| Christoph Pöstinger • Thomas Renner • Andreas Berger • Franz Ratzenberger | |||||||||||||
| 8 | – | Côte d'Ivoire | CIV | 39.31 | |||||||||
| Franck Waota • Jean-Olivier Zirignon • Gilles Bogui • Ouattara Lagazane | |||||||||||||