| | Event type
4 x 400 metres Relay, Men
| Date | 30 – 31 July 1976 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Stade olympique, Parc olympique, Montréal, Québec |
| Participants | 64 from 16 countries |
The US was favored but both Great Britain and Kenya were thought to be legitimate challengers. However, Kenya had joined the African boycott of the 1976 Olympics and was not present. In the heats Britain was eliminated when Alan Pascoe had the baton knocked from his hand by a Jamaican runner at the final exchange. This left the final almost a walkover for the Americans who won over Poland by almost three seconds. The 400/800 champion, Alberto Juantorena of Cuba, anchored their team but he did not have enough support and they finished seventh.
ETH
GAM
GUY
ITA
KEN
NGR
TPE
UGARound One (30 July 1976 — 17:00)
Top three in each heat and next two fastest advanced to the final.
Heat One
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (A) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | United States |  USA | 2:59.52 | |||||||||
| Herman Frazier • Benny Brown • Fred Newhouse • Maxie Parks | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | West Germany |  FRG | 3:03.24 | |||||||||
| Franz-Peter Hofmeister • Lothar Krieg • Harald Schmid • Bernd Herrmann | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Jamaica |  JAM | 3:03.86 | |||||||||
| Leighton Priestley • Don Quarrie • Colin Bradford • Seymour Newman | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Canada |  CAN | 3:03.89 | |||||||||
| Ian Seale • Don Domansky • Leighton Hope • Bryan Saunders | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Finland |  FIN | 3:05.02 | |||||||||
| Ossi Karttunen • Markku Kukkoaho • Stig Lönnqvist • Hannu Mäkelä | |||||||||||||
| 6 | – | Puerto Rico |  PUR | 3:06.08 | |||||||||
| Pedro Ferrer • Iván Mangual • Julio Ferrer • Jorge Ortiz | |||||||||||||
| 7 | – | Kingdom of Saudi Arabia |  KSA | 3:17.53 | |||||||||
| Kamil Al-Abbasi • Hamed Ali • Ahmed Al-Assiri • Hassan Masallam | |||||||||||||
| – | Great Britain |  GBR | – | ||||||||||
| Ainsley Bennett • Glen Cohen • David Jenkins • Alan Pascoe | |||||||||||||
Heat Two
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (A) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Poland |  POL | 3:03.03 | |||||||||
| Ryszard Podlas • Jan Werner • Zbigniew Jaremski • Jerzy Pietrzyk | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Trinidad and Tobago |  TTO | 3:03.54 | |||||||||
| Mike Solomon • Charles Joseph • Horace Tuitt • Joseph Coombs | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Cuba |  CUB | 3:05.19 | |||||||||
| Eddy Gutiérrez • Dámaso Alfonso • Carlos Álvarez • Alberto Juantorena | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | France |  FRA | 3:05.48 | |||||||||
| Hugues Roger • Roger Vélasques • Francis Kerbiriou • Hector Llatser | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Australia |  AUS | 3:05.75 | |||||||||
| Max Binnington • Peter Grant • Don Hanly • Rick Mitchell | |||||||||||||
| 6 | – | Soviet Union |  URS | 3:07.72 | |||||||||
| Dmitry Stukalov • Vladimir Ponomaryov • Viktor Anokhin • Yevgeny Gavrilenko | |||||||||||||
| 7 | – | Barbados |  BAR | 3:08.13 | |||||||||
| Victor Gooding • Harcourt Wason • Hamil Grimes • Orlando Greene | |||||||||||||
| 8 | – | Antigua and Barbuda |  ANT | 3:09.66 | |||||||||
| Cuthbert Jacobs • Paul Richards • Elroy Turner • Fred Sowerby | |||||||||||||
Final (31 July 1976 — 19:20)
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (A) | Split (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | United States | USA | 2:58.65 | ||||
| 926 | Herman Frazier | 45.3 | 45.3 (1) | |||||
| 912 | Benny Brown | 44.6 | 1:29.9 (1) | |||||
| 945 | Fred Newhouse | 43.8 | 2:13.7 (1) | |||||
| 947 | Maxie Parks | 45.0 | 2:58.7 (1) | |||||
| 2 | – | Poland | POL | 3:01.43 | ||||
| 730 | Ryszard Podlas | 46.7 | 46.7 (7) | |||||
| 741 | Jan Werner | 44.0 | 1:30.7 (2) | |||||
| 713 | Zbigniew Jaremski | 45.5 | 2:16.2 (2) | |||||
| 729 | Jerzy Pietrzyk | 45.2 | 3:01.4 (2) | |||||
| 3 | – | West Germany | FRG | 3:01.98 | ||||
| 421 | Franz-Peter Hofmeister | 46.0 | 46.0 (=2) | |||||
| 429 | Lothar Krieg | 45.3 | 1:31.3 (3) | |||||
| 439 | Harald Schmid | 45.8 | 2:17.1 (3) | |||||
| 419 | Bernd Herrmann | 44.9 | 3:02.0 (3) | |||||
| 4 | – | Canada | CAN | 3:02.64 | ||||
| 171 | Ian Seale | 47.0 | 47.0 (8) | |||||
| 147 | Don Domansky | 45.3 | 1:32.3 (4) | |||||
| 155 | Leighton Hope | 45.5 | 2:17.8 (4) | |||||
| 170 | Bryan Saunders | 44.8 | 3:02.6 (4) | |||||
| 5 | – | Jamaica | JAM | 3:02.84 | ||||
| 573 | Leighton Priestley | 46.4 | 46.4 (6) | |||||
| 574 | Don Quarrie | 46.3 | 1:32.7 (=6) | |||||
| 570 | Colin Bradford | 46.3 | 2:19.0 (6) | |||||
| 572 | Seymour Newman | 43.8 | 3:02.8 (5) | |||||
| 6 | – | Trinidad and Tobago | TTO | 3:03.46 | ||||
| 849 | Mike Solomon | 46.0 | 46.0 (=2) | |||||
| 851 | Horace Tuitt | 46.4 | 1:32.4 (5) | |||||
| 845 | Joseph Coombs | 46.2 | 2:18.6 (5) | |||||
| 848 | Charles Joseph | 45.9 | 3:04.5 (7) | |||||
| 7 | – | Cuba | CUB | 3:03.81 | ||||
| 214 | Eddy Gutiérrez | 46.0 | 46.0 (=2) | |||||
| 203 | Dámaso Alfonso | 46.7 | 1:32.7 (=6) | |||||
| 204 | Carlos Álvarez | 46.4 | 2:19.1 (7) | |||||
| 217 | Alberto Juantorena | 44.7 | 3:03.8 (6) | |||||
| 8 | – | Finland | FIN | 3:06.51 | ||||
| 290 | Hannu Mäkelä | 46.3 | 46.3 (5) | |||||
| 282 | Ossi Karttunen | 46.7 | 1:33.0 (8) | |||||
| 289 | Stig Lönnqvist | 46.9 | 2:19.9 (8) | |||||
| 283 | Markku Kukkoaho | 46.6 | 3:06.5 (8) |