# Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay

The men's 4 × 400 metres relay was the longer of the two men's relays on the Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics program in Munich. It was held on 9 September and 10 September 1972.
The United States were heavily favoured in this event. After the 400 metres final, the IOC banned gold and silver medalists Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett from the Olympics for life after they staged a protest on the podium, talking to each other and failing to stand at attention during the medal ceremony, while the third American in the event, John Smith, had pulled a hamstring as he was leading 80 metres into the final and had been ruled unfit to run.
This left the Americans unable to field a team, and they were forced to scratch, leaving no clear favourite.

## Results

Top two in each heat (blue) and the next two fastest (green) advanced to the finals.

### Heats
#### Heat one

| Rank | Names | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | Martin Reynolds, Alan Pascoe, Dave Hemery, David Jenkins | Great Britain | 3:01.26 |
| 2 | Charles Asati, Munyoro Nyamau, Robert Ouko, Julius Sang | Kenya | 3:01.27 |
| 3 | Erik Carlgren, Anders Faager, Kenth Öhman, Ulf Rönner | Sweden | 3:03.05 |
| 4 | Ian Gordon, Brian MacLaren, Craig Blackman, Tony Powell | Canada | 3:04.22 |
| 5 | Miro Kocuvan, Laszlo Ubori, Jozo Alebić, Milorad Čikić | Yugoslavia | 3:05.70 |
| 6 | Omar Ghizlat, Omar Chokhmane, Salah Fettouh, Mohamed Bouboud | Morocco | 3:05.92 |
| 7 | Fernando Silva, Alberto Matos, José Carvalho, Fernando Mamede | Portugal | 3:10.00 |
| – | Maurice Peoples, Tommy Turner, Lee Evans, John Smith | United States | DNS |

#### Heat two

| Rank | Names | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | Bernd Herrmann, Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske, Hermann Köhler, Karl Honz | West Germany | 3:03.27 |
| 2 | Arthur Cooper, Pat Marshall, Charles Joseph, Trevor James | Trinidad and Tobago | 3:03.48 |
| 3 | Musa Dogon Yaro, Bruce Ijirighwo, Mamman Makama, Robert Ojo | Nigeria | 3:04.31 |
| 4 | Tegegne Bezabeh, Shoangizaw Worku, Ketema Benti, Mulugetta Tadesse | Ethiopia | 3:08.59 |
| 5 | Daniele Giovanardi, Giacomo Puosi, Lorenzo Cellerino, Sergio Bello | Italy | 3:09.7 |
| 6 | Hamad Ndee, Obedi Mwanga, Omari Abdallah, Claver Kamanya | Tanzania | 3:10.1 |
| 7 | Omar Ba, Abou Mamadou Sow, Samba Dièye, Jean-Pierre Mango | Senegal | 3:11.2 |
| 8 | Mohamed Musa Gadou, Dafallah Sultan Farah, Ibrahim Saad Abdel Galil, Angelo Hussein | Sudan | 3:14.5 |

#### Heat three

| Rank | Names | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | Jan Werner, Jan Balachowski, Zbigniew Jaremski, Andrzej Badeński | Poland | 3:02.52 |
| 2 | Stig Lönnqvist, Ari Salin, Ossi Karttunen, Markku Kukkoaho | Finland | 3:02.97 |
| 3 | Gilles Bertould, Daniel Velasques, Francis Kerbiriou, Jacques Carette | France | 3:03.13 |
| 4 | Leighton Priestley, Kim Rowe, Trevor Campbell, Alfred Daley | Jamaica | 3:03.83 |
| 5 | Raúl Dome, Félix Pérez, José Jacinto Hidalgo, Eric Phillips | Venezuela | 3:06.99 |
| 6 | Tambusamy Krishnan, Sinnayah Sabapathy, Mohamed Hassan bin Osman, Baba Singhe Peyadesa | Malaysia | 3:13.51 |
| – | Mohamad Younas, Norman Brinkworth, M. Seediq, Iqbal Nusrat | Pakistan | DNS |

### Final

| Rank | Names | Nationality | Time |
| | Charles Asati, Munyoro Nyamau, Robert Ouko, Julius Sang | Kenya | 2:59.83 |
| | Martin Reynolds, Alan Pascoe, Dave Hemery, David Jenkins | Great Britain | 3:00.46 |
| | Gilles Bertould, Daniel Velasques, Francis Kerbiriou, Jacques Carette | France | 3:00.65 |
| 4 | Bernd Herrmann, Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske, Hermann Köhler, Karl Honz | West Germany | 3:00.88 |
| 5 | Jan Werner, Jan Balachowski, Zbigniew Jaremski, Andrzej Badeński | Poland | 3:01.05 |
| 6 | Stig Lönnqvist, Ari Salin, Ossi Karttunen, Markku Kukkoaho | Finland | 3:01.12 |
| 7 | Erik Carlgren, Anders Faager, Kenth Öhman, Ulf Rönner | Sweden | 3:02.57 |
| 8 | Arthur Cooper, Pat Marshall, Charles Joseph, Edwin Roberts | Trinidad and Tobago | 3:03.58 |