| | Event type
4 x 100 metres Relay, Men
| Date | 4 – 5 August 1928 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam |
| Participants | 52 from 13 countries |
| Olympic Record | 41.0 WR / United States  USA / 13 July 192441.0 WR / United States USA / 13 July 1924 |
Germany and the USA were favored, with the Germans having recently twice run 40.8, although neither time was ratified as a world record. They both came thru the heats easily. The final was very even, but on the final changeover, Helmut Körnig started too quickly and had to slow down to avoid running out of the exchange zone. That allowed Hank Russell to get the US a slight lead which they held to the finish, equaling the world record of 41.0.
Round One (4 August 1928 — 14:00)
Top two in each heat advanced to the final.
Heat One
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (H) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Canada |  CAN | 42.2 | |||||||||
| Ralph Adams • Johnny Fitzpatrick • Buck Hester • Percy Williams | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Great Britain |  GBR | 43.5 | |||||||||
| Cyril Gill • Teddy Smouha • Walter Rangeley • Jack London | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Italy |  ITA | – | |||||||||
| Giuseppe Castelli • Franco Reyser • Edgardo Toetti • Enrico Torre | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Greece |  GRE | 44.0 | |||||||||
| Vangelis Moiropoulos • Konstantinos Petridis • Angelos Lambrou • Renos Frangoudis | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Spain |  ESP | – | |||||||||
| Juan Serrahima • Diego Ordóñez • Fernando Muñagorri • Enrique de Chávarri | |||||||||||||
| DNS | – | Netherlands |  NED | – | |||||||||
| Rinus van den Berge • Jaap Boot • Harry Broos • Wim Hennings • Dolf Benz • Toon van Welsenes • Hannes de Boer • Jan de Vries | |||||||||||||
Heat Two
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (H) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | France |  FRA | 41.8 | |||||||||
| André Cerbonney • Gilbert Auvergne • André Dufau • André Mourlon | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Germany |  GER | – | |||||||||
| Georg Lammers • Richard Corts • Hubert Houben • Helmut Körnig | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Belgium |  BEL | – | |||||||||
| Paul Brochart • Fred Zinner • Adolphe Groscol • Willy Dujardin | |||||||||||||
| DNS | – | Chile |  CHI | – | |||||||||
| Óscar Alvarado • Alfredo Ugarte • Rodolfo Wagner • Alex Hannig • José Vicente Salinas | |||||||||||||
| DNS | – | South Africa |  RSA | – | |||||||||
| Billie Legg • Aubrey Burton-Durham • Johannes Viljoen • Sid Atkinson • Howard Kinsman • George Weightman-Smith | |||||||||||||
| DNS | – | Romania |  ROU | – | |||||||||
| Ladislau Peter • Lothar Albrich • Virgil Ioan • Gheorghe Csegezi • Otto Schop • Tiberiu Rusu | |||||||||||||
Heat Three
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (H) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | United States | USA | 41.2 | |||||||||
| Frank Wykoff • Jimmy Quinn • Charley Borah • Hank Russell | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Switzerland |  SUI | 42.6 | |||||||||
| Emmanuel Goldsmith • Willy Weibel • Willy Tschopp • Hans Niggl | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Japan |  JPN | – | 2 | ||||||||
| Iwao Aizawa • Seishichi Inuma • Shigetoshi Osawa • Chuhei Nanbu | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | Turkey |  TUR | – | |||||||||
| Semih Türkdoğan • Şinasi Şahingiray • Haydar Aşan • Mehmet Ali Aybar | |||||||||||||
| AC | – | Hungary |  HUN | – | |||||||||
| Ferenc Gerő • János Paizs • István Sugár • István Raggambi | |||||||||||||
| DNS | – | Argentina |  ARG | – | |||||||||
| Juan Bautista Pina • Alberto Barucco • Eduardo Albe • Valerio Vallanía | |||||||||||||
Final (5 August 1928 — 14:15)
| Pos | Nr | Team | NOC | Time (H) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | United States | USA | 41.0 | |||||||||
| Frank Wykoff • Jimmy Quinn • Charley Borah • Hank Russell | |||||||||||||
| 2 | – | Germany | GER | 41.2 | |||||||||
| Georg Lammers • Richard Corts • Hubert Houben • Helmut Körnig | |||||||||||||
| 3 | – | Great Britain | GBR | 41.8 | |||||||||
| Cyril Gill • Teddy Smouha • Walter Rangeley • Jack London | |||||||||||||
| 4 | – | France | FRA | 42.0 | |||||||||
| André Cerbonney • Gilbert Auvergne • André Dufau • André Mourlon | |||||||||||||
| 5 | – | Switzerland | SUI | 42.6 | |||||||||
| Emmanuel Goldsmith • Willy Weibel • Willy Tschopp • Hans Niggl | |||||||||||||
| AC | – | Canada | CAN | – | |||||||||
| Ralph Adams • Johnny Fitzpatrick • Buck Hester • Percy Williams | |||||||||||||