| Final | Time | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | 1. United States | 37.90s | Lee McRae | Lee McNeill | Harvey Glance | Carl Lewis | | 2. Soviet Union | 38.02s | Aleksandr Yevgenyev | Viktor Bryzgin | Vladimir Muravyov | Vladimir Krylov | | 3. Jamaica | 38.41s | John Mair | Andrew Smith | Clive Wright | Raymond Stewart | | 4. Canada | 38.47s | Ben Johnson | Atlee Mahorn | Desai Williams | Mike Dwyer | | 5. West Germany | 38.73s | Fritz Heer | Volker Westhagemann | Christian Haas | Norbert Dobeleit | | 6. Hungary | 39.04s | Istvan Nagy | Laszlo Karaffa | Istvan Tatar | Attila Kovacs | | 7. Italy | 39.62s | Ezio Madonia | Domenico Gorla | Paolo Catalano | Pierfrancesco Pavoni | | 8. China | 39.93s | Tao Li | Jianming Cai | Feng Li | Chen Zheng |
| Heat 1 | Time | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | 1. Soviet Union | 38.29s | Aleksandr Yevgenyev | Viktor Bryzgin | Vladimir Muravyov | Vladimir Krylov | | 2. Canada | 38.50s | Ben Johnson | Atlee Mahorn | Desai Williams | Mike Dwyer | | 3. West Germany | 38.84s | Fritz Heer | Volker Westhagemann | Christian Haas | Norbert Dobeleit | | 4. Italy | 39.52s | Ezio Madonia | Stefano Tilli | Paolo Catalano | Pierfrancesco Pavoni | | 5. Japan | 39.71s | Kaoru Matsubara | Hirohisa Ota | Masahiro Nagura | Hiroki Fuwa | | 6. Spain | 39.74s | Miguel Angel Garcia | Juan Jose Prado | Angel Heras | Javier Arques | | 7. Ghana | 39.94s | John Myles-Mills | Emmanuel Tuffour | Salaam Gariba | Eric Akogyiram | | 8. Senegal | 40.22s | Charles-Louis Seck | Hamidou Diawara | Joseph Dias | Amadou Mbaye |
| Heat 2 | Time | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | 1. United States | 38.33s | Lee McRae | Lee McNeill | Harvey Glance | Dennis Mitchell | | 2. Jamaica | 38.66s | John Mair | Andrew Smith | Clive Wright | Raymond Stewart | | 3. Hungary | 38.78s | Istvan Nagy | Laszlo Karaffa | Istvan Tatar | Attila Kovacs | | 4. China | 39.05s | Tao Li | Jianming Cai | Feng Li | Chen Zheng | | 5. Cuba | 39.08s | Ricardo Chacon | Leandro Penalver | Sergio Querol | Andres Simon | | 6. Brazil | 39.22s | Joilto Bonfim | Carlos De Oliveira | Arnaldo Oliveira Silva | Robson Caetano Da Silva | | 7. Taiwan | 39.90s | Cheng-Chuan Lai | Shiun-Long Lee | Yih-Yuan Chang | Hsin-Fu Cheng | | 8. Portugal | 40.24s | Arnaldo Abrantes | Pedro Curvelo | Luis Cunha | Luis Barroso |
| Heat 1 | Time | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | 1. United States | 38.80s | Lee McRae | Lee McNeill | Harvey Glance | Dennis Mitchell | | 2. Hungary | 39.11s | Istvan Nagy | Laszlo Karaffa | Istvan Tatar | Attila Kovacs | | 3. Japan | 39.49s | Kaoru Matsubara | Hirohisa Ota | Masahiro Nagura | Hiroki Fuwa | | 4. China | 39.63s | Tao Li | Jianming Cai | Feng Li | Chen Zheng | | 5. Spain | 40.20s | Enrique Talavera | Juan Jose Prado | Miguel Angel Garcia | Javier Arques | | 6. Uganda | 40.22s | Moses Musonge | Joseph Ssali | Sunday Olweny | Edward Bitoga | | -. Great Britain | DQ | Lincoln Asquith | John Regis | Mike McFarlane | Clarence Callender |
| Heat 2 | Time | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | 1. Soviet Union | 38.98s | Aleksandr Yevgenyev | Viktor Bryzgin | Vladimir Muravyov | Andrey Fedoriv | | 2. West Germany | 39.10s | Fritz Heer | Volker Westhagemann | Christian Haas | Norbert Dobeleit | | 3. Brazil | 39.57s | Joilto Bonfim | Oliveira De | Silva Carlos | Da Arnaldo Oliveira | | 4. Italy | 39.58s | Ezio Madonia | Stefano Tilli | Paolo Catalano | Pierfrancesco Pavoni | | 5. Ghana | 39.77s | John Myles-Mills | Emmanuel Tuffour | Salaam Gariba | Eric Akogyiram | | 6. Taiwan | 40.05s | Cheng-Chuan Lai | Shiun-Long Lee | Yih-Yuan Chang | Hsin-Fu Cheng |
| Heat 3 | Time | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | 1. Canada | 38.76s | Ben Johnson | Atlee Mahorn | Desai Williams | Mike Dwyer | | 2. Jamaica | 38.88s | John Mair | Andrew Smith | Clive Wright | Raymond Stewart | | 3. Cuba | 39.44s | Ricardo Chacon | Leandro Penalver | Sergio Querol | Andres Simon | | 4. Senegal | 39.83s | Charles-Louis Seck | Hamidou Diawara | Joseph Dias | Amadou Mbaye | | 5. Portugal | 40.10s | Arnaldo Abrantes | Pedro Curvelo | Luis Cunha | Luis Barroso | | -. Nigeria | DNS | Augustine Olobia | Patrick Nwankwo | Innocent Egbunike | Chidi Imoh |
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