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 and women
Years held	Men: 1912 – 2012 Women: 1972 – 2012
Olympic record
Men	2:55.39  United States (USA) (2008)
Women	3:15.17  Soviet Union (URS) (1988)
Reigning champion
Men	Bahamas (BAH)
Women	United States (USA)

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. It is the most prestigious 4×400 m relay race at 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 has been a semi-final round, but this has been eliminated as selection is now determined by time – the sixteen fastest nations during a pre-Olympic qualification period are entered. Since 1984, teams may enter up to six athletes for the event. Larger nations typically have two reserves 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 2:55.39 minutes for men, set by the United States in 2008, and 3:15.17 minutes for women, set by the Soviet Union in 1988. 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.