| Final 18:10 | Time | Ath.1 | Ath.2 | Ath.3 | Ath.4 | | 1. Germany | 39.5s | Bernd Cullmann | Armin Hary | Walter Mahlendorf | Martin Lauer | | 2. Soviet Union | 40.1s | Gusman Kosanov | Leonid Bartenev | Yury Konovalov | Edvin Ozolins | | 3. Great Britain | 40.2s | Peter Radford | David Jones | David Segal | Neville Whitehead | | 4. Italy | 40.2s | Armando Sardi | Pier Giorgio Cazzola | Salvatore Giannone | Livio Berruti | | 5. Venezuela | 40.7s | Clive Bonas | Lloyd Murad | Emilio Romero | Rafael Romero | | -. United States | DQ | Frank Budd | Ray Norton | Stone Johnson | Dave Sime |
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| | | Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Roma. Capp.: 65,000. | | -- competitors from -- nations. |
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The United States and Germany were the teams to watch after times of
39.7 by the USA in both rounds and a similar 39.7 after a world-record
equalling 39.5 by Germany in the first round. The USA were slightly
behind Germany as the lead-off men neared the first changeover. Frank
Budd approached Norton, the latter started a fraction too soon, anxious
to do well after his poor individual runs. He began to move away from
Budd and almost stopped as his teammate yelled at him, but took over
the baton beyond the zone. Norton flew down the back straight gaining
on 100m winner Armin Hary, but another poor exchange sent Stone
Johnson off 3m behind Mahlendorf, and Sime received the baton a
metre behind the German team. Sime powered past Martin Lauer to
cross the line half a metre ahead, but the team was then disqualified.
Britain, who had made the final only when Nigeria were disqualified,
were promoted to third behind the Soviet team, after a first changeover
between Radford and Jones which seemed suspiciously similar to that
of the USA.
| Semifinals | Thursday 08.09 15:15 |
| Semi 1 | Time | Ath.1 | Ath.2 | Ath.3 | Ath.4 | | 1. Germany | 39.7s | Bernd Cullmann | Armin Hary | Walter Mahlendorf | Martin Lauer | | 2. Venezuela | 40.3s | Clive Bonas | Lloyd Murad | Emilio Romero | Rafael Romero | | 3. Great Britain | 40.5s | Peter Radford | David Jones | David Segal | Neville Whitehead | | 4. Canada | 41.1s | Lynn Eves | George Short | Terry Tobacco | Siegmar Ohlemann | | 5. Japan | 42.2s | Keiji Ogushi | Hirotada Hayase | Takayuki Okazaki | Hiroshi Shibata | | -. Nigeria | DQ | James Omagbeni | Abdul Karim Amu | Smart Akraka | Adebayo Olapado |
| Semi 2 | Time | Ath.1 | Ath.2 | Ath.3 | Ath.4 | | 1. United States | 39.7s | Frank Budd | Ray Norton | Stone Johnson | Dave Sime | | 2. Italy | 40.2s | Armando Sardi | Pier Giorgio Cazzola | Salvatore Giannone | Livio Berruti | | 3. Soviet Union | 40.2s | Gusman Kosanov | Leonid Bartenev | Yury Konovalov | Edvin Ozolins | | 4. Switzerland | 40.9s | Peter Laeng | Heinz Mueller | Werner Schaufelberger | Sebald Schnellmann | | 5. Greece | 41.7s | Ioannis Komitoudis | Constantin Lolos | Leonidas Kormalis | Nikolaos Georgopoulos | | 6. Pakistan | 42.8s | Abdul Malik | Muhammad Ramzam Ali | Ghulam Raziq | Abdullah Salem Khaliq |
| Heats | Wednesday 07.09 16:10 |
| Heat 1 | Time | Ath.1 | Ath.2 | Ath.3 | Ath.4 | | 1. Great Britain | 40.1s | Peter Radford | David Jones | David Segal | Neville Whitehead | | 2. Soviet Union | 40.2s | Gusman Kosanov | Leonid Bartenev | Yury Konovalov | Edvin Ozolins | | 3. Switzerland | 40.8s | Peter Laeng | Heinz Mueller | Werner Schaufelberger | Sebald Schnellmann | | 4. Iraq | 41.7s | Jasim Karim Kuraishi | Khudhir Zalata | Fahmi Falih | Mahmood Ghanim | | 5. Thailand | 42.0s | Boonsong Arjtaveekul | Prajim Wongsuwan | PhaIbulya Vacharabhan | Suthi Manyagas | | -. Mexico | DNS | |
| Heat 2 | Time | Ath.1 | Ath.2 | Ath.3 | Ath.4 | | 1. Italy | 40.0s | Armando Sardi | Pier Giorgio Cazzola | Salvatore Giannone | Livio Berruti | | 2. Nigeria | 40.1s | James Omagbeni | Abdul Karim Amu | Smart Akraka | Adebayo Olapado | | 3. Venezuela | 41.0s | Horacio Esteves | Lloyd Murad | Emilio Romero | Rafael Romero | | 4. Philippines | 41.4s | Remegio Vista | Isaac Gomez | Enrique Bautista | Regelio Onofre | | -. Uganda | DQ | Aggrey Awori | Gadi Ado | Erasmus Amukum | Jean Baptiste Okello | | -. Liberia | DNS | |
| Heat 3 | Time | Ath.1 | Ath.2 | Ath.3 | Ath.4 | | 1. Germany | 39.5s | Bernd Cullmann | Armin Hary | Walter Mahlendorf | Martin Lauer | | 2. Greece | 41.6s | Ioannis Komitoudis | Constantin Lolos | Leonidas Kormalis | Nikolaos Georgopoulos | | 3. Pakistan | 42.5s | Abdul Malik | Muhammad Ramzam Ali | Ghulam Raziq | Abdullah Salem Khaliq | | -. Poland | DQ | Marian Foik | Janusz Jarzembowski | Jozef Schmidt | Jerzy Juskowiak | | -. Australia | DNS | | | -. Austria | DNS | |
| Heat 4 | Time | Ath.1 | Ath.2 | Ath.3 | Ath.4 | | 1. United States | 39.7s | Frank Budd | Ray Norton | Stone Johnson | Dave Sime | | 2. Canada | 42.1s | Lynn Eves | George Short | Terry Tobacco | Harry Jerome | | 3. Japan | 42.4s | Keiji Ogushi | Hirotada Hayase | Takayuki Okazaki | Hiroshi Shibata | | 4. Afghanistan | 44.?s | Ali Ahmed Yusuf Zaid | Abdul Ghafar Ghafoorri | Habib Zareef Zaid | Abdul Hadi Skekaib | | -. France | DQ | Paul. Genevay | Jocelyn Delecour | Abdoulaye Seye | Claude Piquemal |
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