Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 400 metres relay

The women's 4 × 400 metres relay competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was held at the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange on 19–20 August.[1]

Women's 4 × 400 metres relay
at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
The United States team leading the heat 1
VenueOlympic Stadium
Date19–20 August 2016
Competitors from 16 nations
Teams16
Winning time3:19.06
Medalists
Courtney Okolo
Natasha Hastings
Phyllis Francis
Allyson Felix
Taylor Ellis-Watson*
Francena McCorory*
 United States
Stephenie Ann McPherson
Anneisha McLaughlin-Whilby
Shericka Jackson
Novlene Williams-Mills
Christine Day*
Chrisann Gordon*
 Jamaica
Eilidh Doyle
Anyika Onuora
Emily Diamond
Christine Ohuruogu
Kelly Massey*
 Great Britain
Video on YouTube Official Video Highlights

Summary

The United States entered as the defending Olympic champions while Jamaica was the reigning world champions from 2015, having defeated the Americans there. Great Britain entered with the fastest time recorded that year (3:25.05 minutes), which it had achieved to win the 2016 European title. France and Canada were the next strongest entries.[2]

In the final, Stephenie Ann McPherson of Jamaica went out hard from the gun, chipping into the huge 3-turn stagger gap. By the end of the second turn she was almost side-by-side with American Courtney Okolo. Down the home stretch, Okolo accelerated and pulled away from McPherson. The USA exchanged first, followed closely by Jamaica. Already with a gap back to Eilidh Doyle, Great Britain and Canada were the next to exchange. American Natasha Hastings was first to the break and Anneisha McLaughlin-Whilby dropped in about 5 meters behind. Anyika Onuora was more than ten meters behind Jamaica by the time the British broke. Canada was next and a rush around the turn by Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz dropped Poland in closely behind. Through the turn McLaughlin-Whilby progressively closed the gap on Hastings, while the rest of the field fell another ten meters behind the leaders. Onuora slowed further on the home stretch, with Canada's Alicia Brown passing her on the outside and Wyciszkiewicz pulling up on her shoulder.

The USA exchanged first, though with only a 2-meter lead on Jamaica. Seconds later Canada was the next to exchange over Poland with Iga Baumgart running into the back of Brown, losing a step to dance away. Up front, USA's Phyllis Francis again opened up a gap on Jamaica's Shericka Jackson around the turn. She held the gap to the half way mark, then Jackson began to close it down. Behind them, Caitlin Sargent-Jones brought Australia around Great Britain and past Poland. After getting passed, Britain's Emily Diamond sparked up and passed both Poland and Australia, setting her marks on Canada's Noelle Montcalm, 5 meters ahead. Coming into the handoff, the bronze medalist Jackson closed down to within a meter of Francis. 40 meters back, Diamond had gotten past Canada. Sargent-Jones' exuberance brought Australia into the handoff last.

At the 2015 World Championships, Novlene Williams-Mills ran past Francena McCorory to give Jamaica the victory over the US, wasting Allyson Felix's incredible 47.7 leg leading up to the handoff, the second fastest in history. In this race, the veteran Williams-Mills, at 34 the oldest woman in this race, was matched directly against Felix. And well behind them, Britain's hopes were in the hands of their veteran Christine Ohuruogu. All the way down the backstretch, Williams-Mills kept closing the gap, inching closer to Felix. By the middle of the final turn, it looked like Williams-Mills was about to move into the perfect position to pass Felix coming off the turn. Instead, Felix started to accelerate, the gap began to open wider. From less than a meter, Felix continued to run away, opening up to 8 meters by the finish for a clear American victory. Well behind them, in the battle for bronze, Olha Zemlyak came from seventh place to run Ukraine past Poland, Italy and Canada to get right behind Ohuruogu, but Ohuruogu stood firm through the final turn. As Zemlyak moved to Ohuruogu's shoulder to attack coming off the turn, instead Canada's Sage Watson went around Zemlyak and Ohuruogu ran away, opening up a four-metre gap to take bronze for Britain.[3]

The gold medal was Felix's sixth Olympic gold medal and also the ninth overall Olympic medal of her career, tying her with Merlene Ottey as the most decorated woman in track and field history. Ottey, however, never won Olympic gold. Furthermore, the gold medal was the sixth straight Olympic victory for the United States in this event.[4]

Later, the medals for the competition were presented by IOC member Angela Ruggiero, and the gifts were presented by IAAF Council Member Stephanie Hightower.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record  Soviet Union
(Tatyana Ledovskaya, Olga Nazarova, Mariya Pinigina, Olga Bryzgina)
3:15.17 Seoul, South Korea 1 October 1988
Olympic record
2016 World leading  Great Britain
(Emily Diamond, Anyika Onuora, Eilidh Doyle, Seren Bundy-Davies)
3:25.05 Amsterdam, Netherlands 10 July 2016

The following national records were established during the competition:

CountryAthletesRoundTimeNotes
Netherlands Madiea Ghafoor, Lisanne de Witte, Nicky van Leuveren, Laura de Witte (NED)Heats3:26.98
Italy Maria Benedicta Chigbolu, Maria Enrica Spacca, Ayomide Folorunso, Libania Grenot (ITA)Heats3:25.16
Bahamas Lanece Clarke, Anthonique Strachan, Carmiesha Cox, Christine Amertil (BAH)Heats3:26.36

Schedule

All times are Brazil time (UTC−3)[5]

Date Time Round
Friday, 19 August 201620:40Heats
Saturday, 20 August 201622:00Finals

Results

Heats

Qualification: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advance to the Final

Heat 1

Rank Lane Nation Competitors Time Notes
14 United StatesCourtney Okolo, Taylor Ellis-Watson, Francena McCorory, Phyllis Francis3:21.42Q, SB
28 UkraineAlina Logvynenko, Olha Bibik, Tetiana Melnyk, Olha Zemlyak3:24.54Q, SB
32 PolandMałgorzata Hołub, Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz, Iga Baumgart, Justyna Święty3:25.34Q, SB
41 AustraliaJessica Thornton, Anneliese Rubie, Caitlin Sargent-Jones, Morgan Mitchell3:25.71q, SB
53 FrancePhara Anacharsis, Brigitte Ntiamoah, Marie Gayot, Floria Gueï3:26.18
66 NetherlandsMadiea Ghafoor, Lisanne de Witte, Nicky van Leuveren, Laura de Witte3:26.98NR
75 RomaniaAdelina Pastor, Anamaria Ioniță, Andrea Miklós, Bianca Răzor3:29.87
87 BrazilJoelma Sousa, Geisa Coutinho, Leticia de Souza, Jailma de Lima3:30.27SB

Heat 2

Rank Lane Nation Competitors Time Notes
14 JamaicaChristine Day, Anneisha McLaughlin-Whilby, Chrisann Gordon, Novlene Williams-Mills3:22.38Q, SB
22 Great BritainEmily Diamond, Anyika Onuora, Kelly Massey, Christine Ohuruogu3:24.81Q, SB
38 CanadaCarline Muir, Alicia Brown, Noelle Montcalm, Sage Watson3:24.94Q, SB
43 ItalyMaria Benedicta Chigbolu, Maria Enrica Spacca, Ayomide Folorunso, Libania Grenot3:25.16q, NR
55 GermanyLaura Muller, Friederike Möhlenkamp, Lara Hoffmann, Ruth Spelmeyer3:26.02SB
66 BahamasLanece Clarke, Anthonique Strachan, Carmiesha Cox, Christine Amertil3:26.36NR
71 IndiaNirmala Sheoran, Tintu Lukka, Poovamma Raju Machettira, Anilda Thomas3:29.53
87 CubaLisneidy Veitia, Gilda Casanova, Roxana Gomez, Daisurami Bonne3:30.11SB

Final

Rank Lane Nation Competitors Time Notes
6 United StatesCourtney Okolo, Natasha Hastings, Phyllis Francis, Allyson Felix3:19.06SB
5 JamaicaStephenie Ann McPherson, Anneisha McLaughlin-Whilby, Shericka Jackson, Novlene Williams-Mills3:20.34SB
3 Great BritainEilidh Doyle, Anyika Onuora, Emily Diamond, Christine Ohuruogu3:25.88
47 CanadaCarline Muir, Alicia Brown, Noelle Montcalm, Sage Watson3:26.43
DSQ[6]4 UkraineAlina Lohvynenko, Olha Bibik, Tetyana Melnyk, Olha Zemlyak3:26.64
51 ItalyMaria Benedicta Chigbolu, Maria Enrica Spacca, Ayomide Folorunso, Libania Grenot3:27.05
68 PolandMałgorzata Hołub, Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz, Iga Baumgart, Justyna Święty3:27.28
72 AustraliaJessica Thornton, Anneliese Rubie, Caitlin Sargent, Morgan Mitchell3:27.45

References

  1. Timetable by discipline The XXXI Olympic Games BRAZIL Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL 05 AUG 2016 - 21 AUG 2016. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-09.
  2. Mulkeen, Jon (2016-08-06). Preview: women’s 4x400m – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF . Retrieved on 2016-08-09.
  3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-20. Retrieved 2016-08-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Athletics Women's 4 x 400 metres Relay Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  5. women's 4 × 400 metres Relay The XXXI Olympic Games Timetable. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-09.
  6. https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/News/2020/06/Medal%20reallocations_%20IOC%20EB_2.pdf
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