Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.
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