Existing records at the start of the event.
All times shown are in seconds.
AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)
|
DNS = did not start | DQ = disqualification | NM = no mark (i.e. no valid result) | Q = qualification by place in heat | q = qualification by overall place
|
Rank
|
Team
|
Name
|
Result
|
Notes
|
|
United States
|
Lee McRae, Lee McNeill, Harvey Glance, Carl Lewis
|
37.90
|
|
|
Soviet Union
|
Aleksandr Yevgenyev, Viktor Bryzgin, Vladimir Muravyov, Vladimir Krylov
|
38.02
|
AR
|
|
Jamaica
|
John Mair, Andrew Smith, Clive Wright, Ray Stewart
|
38.41
|
|
4
|
Canada
|
Ben Johnson, Atlee Mahorn, Desai Williams, Mike Dwyer)
|
38.47
|
|
5
|
West Germany
|
Fritz Heer, Volker Westhagemann, Christian Haas, Norbert Dobeleit)
|
38.73
|
|
6
|
Hungary
|
István Nagy, László Karaffa, István Tatár, Attila Kovács
|
39.04
|
|
7
|
Italy
|
Ezio Madonia, Domenico Gorla, Paolo Catalano, Pierfrancesco Pavoni
|
39.62
|
|
8
|
China
|
Li Tao, Cai Jianming, Li Feng, Zheng Chen
|
39.93
|
|
Rank
|
Team
|
Name
|
Result
|
Notes
|
1
|
Soviet Union
|
Aleksandr Yevgenyev, Viktor Bryzgin, Vladimir Muravyov, Vladimir Krylov
|
38.29
|
Q
|
2
|
Canada
|
Ben Johnson, Atlee Mahorn, Desai Williams, Mike Dwyer
|
38.50
|
Q
|
3
|
West Germany
|
Fritz Heer, Volker Westhagemann, Christian Haas, Norbert Dobeleit
|
38.84
|
Q
|
4
|
Italy
|
Ezio Madonia, Stefano Tilli, Paolo Catalano, Pierfrancesco Pavoni
|
39.52
|
Q
|
5
|
Japan
|
Kaoru Matsubara, Hirohisa Ota, Masahiro Nagura, Hiroki Fuwa
|
39.71
|
|
6
|
Spain
|
Miguel Ángel García, Juan José Prado, Angel Heras, José Javier Arqués
|
39.74
|
|
7
|
Ghana
|
John Myles-Mills, Emmanuel Tuffour, Salaam Gariba, Eric Akogyiram
|
39.94
|
|
8
|
Senegal
|
Charles-Louis Seck, Hamidou Diawara, Joseph Dias, Amadou Mbaye
|
40.22
|
|
Rank
|
Team
|
Name
|
Result
|
Notes
|
1
|
United States
|
Lee McRae, Lee McNeill, Harvey Glance, Dennis Mitchell
|
38.33
|
Q
|
2
|
Jamaica
|
John Mair, Andrew Smith, Clive Wright, Ray Stewart
|
38.66
|
Q
|
3
|
Hungary
|
István Nagy, László Karaffa, István Tatár, Attila Kovács
|
38.78
|
Q
|
4
|
China
|
Li Tao, Cai Jianming, Li Feng, Zheng Chen
|
39.05
|
AR Q
|
5
|
Cuba
|
Ricardo Chacon, Leandro Peñalver, Sergio Querol, Andrés Simón
|
39.08
|
|
6
|
Brazil
|
Joilto Bonfim, Carlos de Oliveira, Arnaldo de Oliveira Silva, Robson da Silva
|
39.22
|
|
7
|
Chinese Taipei
|
Lai Cheng-Chuan, Lee Shiun-Long, Chang Yih-Yuan, Cheng Hsin-Fu
|
39.90
|
|
8
|
Portugal
|
Arnaldo Abrantes, Pedro Curvelo, Luís Cunha, Luís Barroso
|
40.24
|
|
Rank
|
Country
|
Name
|
Result
|
Notes
|
1
|
United States
|
Lee McRae, Lee McNeill, Harvey Glance, Dennis Mitchell
|
38.80
|
Q
|
2
|
Hungary
|
István Nagy, László Karaffa, István Tatár, Attila Kovács
|
39.11
|
Q
|
3
|
Japan
|
Kaoru Matsubara, Hirohisa Ota, Masahiro Nagura, Hiroki Fuwa
|
39.49
|
Q
|
4
|
China
|
Li Tao, Cai Jianming, Li Feng, Zheng Chen
|
39.63
|
Q
|
5
|
Spain
|
Enrique Talavera, Juan José Prado, Miguel Ángel García, José Javier Arqués
|
40.20
|
q
|
6
|
Uganda
|
Moses Musonge, Joseph Ssali, Sunday Olweny, Edward Bitoga
|
40.22
|
|
**
|
Great Britain
|
Lincoln Asquith, John Regis, Mike McFarlane, Clarence Callender
|
DQ
|
|
Rank
|
Country
|
Name
|
Result
|
Notes
|
1
|
Soviet Union
|
Aleksandr Yevgenyev, Viktor Bryzgin, Vladimir Muravyov, Andrey Fedoriv
|
38.98
|
Q
|
2
|
West Germany
|
Fritz Heer, Volker Westhagemann, Christian Haas, Norbert Dobeleit
|
39.10
|
Q
|
3
|
Brazil
|
Joilto Bonfim, Carlos de Oliveira, Arnaldo de Oliveira Silva, Robson da Silva
|
39.57
|
Q
|
4
|
Italy
|
Ezio Madonia, Stefano Tilli, Paolo Catalano, Pierfrancesco Pavoni
|
39.58
|
Q
|
5
|
Ghana
|
John Myles-Mills, Emmanuel Tuffour, Salaam Gariba, Eric Akogyiram
|
39.77
|
q
|
6
|
Chinese Taipei
|
Lai Cheng-Chuan, Lee Shiun-Long, Chang Yih-Yuan, Cheng Hsin-Fu
|
40.05
|
q
|
Rank
|
Team
|
Name
|
Result
|
Notes
|
1
|
Canada
|
Ben Johnson, Atlee Mahorn, Desai Williams, Mike Dwyer
|
38.76
|
Q
|
2
|
Jamaica
|
John Mair, Andrew Smith, Clive Wright, Ray Stewart
|
38.88
|
Q
|
3
|
Cuba
|
Ricardo Chacon, Leandro Peñalver, Sergio Querol, Andrés Simón
|
39.44
|
Q
|
4
|
Senegal
|
Charles-Louis Seck, Hamidou Diawara, Joseph Dias, Amadou Mbaye
|
39.83
|
Q
|
5
|
Portugal
|
Arnaldo Abrantes, Pedro Curvelo, Luís Cunha, Luís Barroso
|
40.10
|
q
|
**
|
Nigeria
|
Augustine Olobia, Patrick Nwankwo, Innocent Egbunike, Chidi Imoh
|
DNS
|
|