These are the official results of the men's 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. There were 35 nations competing.[1]
The United States ran the event without their top two qualifiers from the Olympic Trials. World record holder Butch Reynolds was injured before the games and 400 metres gold medalist Michael Johnson strained a muscle in his leg during the 200 metres final, despite winning with a world record of 19.32.
Seizing the opportunity of a weakened U.S. squad, Great Britain's Iwan Thomas shot out to a lead from the gun, putting a large gap on the U.S.'s LaMont Smith to his inside. Thomas began to tie up toward the end of his leg, allowing Smith to gain back to almost even with Thomas by the handoff, with Michael McDonald putting Jamaica into third position. Alvin Harrison ran a solid turn and looked to put the U.S. in the lead at the break, but Jamie Baulch sprinted past him on the outside to put Britain back in the lead. Harrison held his position behind Baulch all the way until the end of the second turn, with Greg Haughton bringing Jamaica into the three-team breakaway for the medals. Harrison steadily gained on the last half of the turn, pulling even by the straightaway, then cleanly separated, putting the U.S. in the lead. Haughton followed Harrison around Baulch running down lane 2 trying to catch Harrison. The U.S. and Great Britain both exchanged cleanly on the inside, but as Jamaica's Haughton handed off to Roxbert Martin, they crossed legs with Martin coming out doing a full somersault, losing a couple of steps on the U.S.'s Derek Mills, with Mark Richardson in hot pursuit. Richardson pulled in the gap to Mills, looking poised to take the lead coming off the final turn, but Mills held him off and pulled away down the straight. Mills handed off to Anthuan Maybank, whose selection to the U.S. team was controversial. Maybank was not selected for the individual race because he had been disqualified for a lane violation in the Olympic trials. Normally, the top six finishers would be selected and he technically did not finish.[2] Now in the absence of Johnson and Reynolds, he was thrust into anchor role for the U.S. team. Britain's silver medalist Roger Black gained on Maybank but ultimately failed to pass him, giving the U.S. the gold medal with a margin of four metres. Davian Clarke brought bronze for Jamaica three seconds later. Behind the medalists, Senegal had a poor final handoff behind Japan, leaving them even with Poland on the final lap. Ibou Faye made up the deficit, passing Japan's Shigekazu Ōmori for fourth place.
LaMont Smith Alvin Harrison Derek Mills Anthuan Maybank Jason Rouser | Iwan Thomas Jamie Baulch Mark Richardson Roger Black Mark Hylton | Michael McDonald Greg Haughton Roxbert Martin Davian Clarke Dennis Blake |
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics.
| World Record | 2:54.29 |  Michael Johnson Andrew Valmon Butch Reynolds Quincy Watts | Stuttgart (GER) | August 22, 1993 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic Record | 2:55.74 | Andrew Valmon Quincy Watts Michael Johnson Steve Lewis | Barcelona (ESP) | August 8, 1992 |
Qualification: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) qualified to the semifinals.
| Rank | Heat | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3:00.56 | Q | |||
| 2 | 1 | 3:01.79 | Q | |||
| 3 | 1 | 3:01.92 | Q | |||
| 4 | 1 | 3:02.51 | q | |||
| 5 | 3 | 3:02.52 | Q | |||
| 6 | 3 | 3:02.61 | Q | |||
| 7 | 3 | 3:02.73 | q | |||
| 8 | 4 | 3:02.81 | Q | |||
| 9 | 5 | 3:02.82 | Q | |||
| 10 | 3 | 3:03.05 | q | |||
| 11 | 4 | 3:03.60 | Q | |||
| 12 | 1 | 3:03.73 | q | |||
| 13 | 4 | 3:03.79 | q | |||
| 14 | 5 | 3:04.09 | Q | |||
| 15 | 5 | 3:04.67 | q | |||
| 16 | 2 | 3:04.73 | Q | |||
| 17 | 5 | 3:05.16 | ||||
| 18 | 2 | 3:05.53 | ||||
| 19 | 2 | 3:05.75 | ||||
| 20 | 3 | 3:06.52 | ||||
| 21 | 5 | 3:06.62 | ||||
| 22 | 4 | 3:08.17 | ||||
| 23 | 2 | 3:08.25 | ||||
| 24 | 2 | 3:09.46 | ||||
| 25 | 1 | 3:10.51 | ||||
| 26 | 1 | 3:10.67 | ||||
| 27 | 1 | 3:11.65 | ||||
| 28 | 4 | 3:13.35 | ||||
| 29 | 2 | 3:15.67 | ||||
| 30 | 3 | 3:17.30 | ||||
| 31 | 3 | 3:19.92 | ||||
| 32 | 4 | 3:24.88 | ||||
| 5 | ||||||
| 4 | ||||||
| 5 |
Qualification: First 4 in each heat (Q) qualified directly to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2:57.87 | Q | |||
| 2 | 2 | 2:58.42 | Q | |||
| 3 | 1 | 3:01.36 | Q | |||
| 4 | 1 | 3:01.72 | Q | |||
| 5 | 1 | 3:01.73 | Q | |||
| 6 | 2 | 3:01.92 | Q | |||
| 7 | 2 | 3:02.17 | Q | |||
| 8 | 1 | 3:02.29 | Q | |||
| 9 | 2 | 3:02.56 | ||||
| 10 | 1 | 3:02.96 | ||||
| 11 | 1 | 3:03.46 | ||||
| 12 | 1 | 3:04.55 | ||||
| 13 | 2 | 3:05.36 | ||||
| 14 | 1 | 3:05.63 | ||||
| 15 | 2 | 3:07.18 | ||||
| 2 |
| Rank | Lane | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 2:55.99 | |||||
| 6 | 2:56.60 | NR | ||||
| 4 | 2:59.42 | |||||
| 4 | 3 | 3:00.64 | NR | |||
| 5 | 7 | 3:00.76 | ||||
| 6 | 4 | 3:00.96 | ||||
| 7 | 2 | 3:02.71 | ||||
| 1 |