Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay

Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
3000 m				women
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men		women
100 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men		women
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men		women
Road events
Marathon		men		women
20 km walk		men
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Heptathlon				women
Decathlon		men
Wheelchair races

These are the official results of the Women's 4 × 100 m Relay event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. There were a total number of 19 nations competing.

This was a race between three strong teams with many athletes at their peak. From the gun, Alice Brown was out like a rocket for USA in lane 6, almost making up the stagger on Zvetanka Ilieva leading off for Bulgaria on her outside. Meanwhile East German star, 1987 World Champion Silke Möller was losing ground in lane 5 as Soviet Lyudmila Kondratyeva was gaining in lane 4. All the handoffs were efficient as Sheila Echols maintained the American gap over Kerstin Behrendt and Galina Malchugina. The American handoff to the year's phenom, world record holder Florence Griffith-Joyner was safe but not particularly efficient, the East German underhanded pass to Ingrid Auerswald is a textbook demonstration of an efficient handoff gaining two metres, suddenly East Germany had the lead. It would still be expected that the way FloJo dominated the sprint events, she would be able to pull away from Auerswald, but running the longer distance around the turn she only made a marginal gain and Marina Zhirova also put the Soviet team in close contention. Both the Soviet team and East German teams executed efficient handoffs, leaving Natalya Pomoshchnikova just slightly behind 1983 World Champion Marlies Goehr. The American handoff was not as efficient as Griffith-Joyner ran up on veteran anchor Evelyn Ashford leaving USA two metres behind. Pomoshchnikova accelerated and was able to pull even with Goehr while Ashford was in full stride. 50 metres from the finish it was three abreast across the center of the track. Ashford had been disrespected for her 1984 Olympic championship in the absence of the boycotting East Germans and Soviets, specifically Goehr. Here they were head to head. Pomoshchnikova's hamstring seized suddenly she was limping in pain. Ashford continued right past Goehr to a meter and a half victory and redemption. The three teams were so far ahead of the rest of the world, Pomoshchnikova was able to limp across the finish line ahead of the West German team for the bronze medal.

Records

These were the standing World and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics.

World Record	41.37	Silke Gladisch Sabine Rieger Ingrid Auerswald Marlies Göhr	Canberra (AUS)	October 6, 1985
Olympic Record	41.60	Romy Muller Barbel Wockel Ingrid Auerswald Marlies Göhr	Moscow (URS)	August 1, 1980

Final

• Held on Saturday 1988-10-01

Semifinals

• Heat 1

• Heat 2

Heats

• Heat 1

• Heat 2

• Heat 3

See also

• 1986 Women's European Championships 4 × 100 m Relay (Stuttgart)
• 1987 Women's World Championships 4 × 100 m Relay (Rome)
• 1990 Women's European Championships 4 × 100 m Relay (Split)
• 1991 Women's World Championships 4 × 100 m Relay (Tokyo)

References

• Official Report
• Results