4 × 400 metres relay at the Olympics
| 4 × 400 metres relay at the Olympic Games | |
|---|---|
The 2008 Olympic men's 4 × 400 m relay final | |
| Overview | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Gender | Men, Women and Mixed |
| Years held | Men: 1912–2024 Women: 1972–2024 Mixed: 2020–2024 |
| Olympic record | |
| Men | United States (Christopher Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon, Rai Benjamin) 2:54.43 (2024) |
| Women | Soviet Union (Tatyana Ledovskaya, Olga Nazarova, Mariya Pinigina, Olga Bryzgina) 3:15.17 (1988) |
| Mixed | United States (Vernon Norwood (M), Shamier Little (F), Bryce Deadmon (M), Kaylyn Brown (F)) 3:07.41 (2024) |
| Reigning champion | |
| Men | United States (Christopher Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon, Rai Benjamin) |
| Women | United States (Shamier Little, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabrielle Thomas, Alexis Holmes, Quanera Hayes*, Aaliyah Butler*, Kaylyn Brown*) |
| Mixed | Netherlands (Eugene Omalla, Lieke Klaver, Isaya Klein Ikkink, Femke Bol, Cathelijn Peeters*) *Indicates the athlete only competed in the preliminary heats. |
The 4 × 400 metres relay at the Summer Olympics is the longest track relay event held at the multi-sport event. The men's relay has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1912 and the women's event has been continuously held since the 1972 Olympics. The inaugural mixed 4 × 400 metres relay was held at the 2020 Olympics. It is the most prestigious 4 × 400 m relay race at the elite level. At the 1908 Summer Olympics, a precursor to this event was held – the 1600 m medley relay. This event, with two legs of 200 m, one of 400 m, and a final leg of 800 m, was the first track relay in Olympic history.
The competition has two parts: a first round and an eight-team final. Historically, there was a semi-final round, but this has been eliminated as selection is now determined by time, with the sixteen fastest nations during a pre-Olympic qualification period are entered.
Since 1984, teams may enter up to eight athletes for the event. Larger nations typically have up to four reserve runners in the first round in order to preserve the fitness of their top runners for the final. Heat runners of medal-winning teams receive medals even if they did not run in the final.
The Olympic records for the event are 2:54.43 for men, set by the United States in 2024; 3:15.17 for women, set by the Soviet Union in 1988 and 3:07.41 in mixed relay, set by the United States in 2024. The women's record is also the world record for the 4 × 400 metres relay. The first two women's Olympic finals (1972 and 1976) resulted in new world records for the winning East German teams. The men's world record has been profoundly shaped by Olympic competition with ten records set (1912, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1952, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1988, and 1992): the record has only been broken twice in a 4 × 400 m relay race outside of the multi-sport event.
The United States is by far the most successful nation in the event. The country has won the men's race 18 times and the women's race seven times. As of 2024, no other country has won more than three golds in the event. Great Britain (two wins, thirteen medals), Jamaica (one win, eight medals) and the Soviet Union (three wins, four medals) are the next most successful nations.
Participants in this event are often competitors in the 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles individual Olympic events (and, less commonly, the 800 metres and 200 metres).
Allyson Felix is the most successful athlete in the event, having four straight wins from 2008 to 2020. Steve Lewis, Jeremy Wariner, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin are the only men to win the title twice, and Chris Brown is the only man to reach the podium three times.