| Final | time | __________ |  | 1. United States |  USA | 37.90s |   |  |  Lee McRae, Lee McNeill, Harvey Glance, Carl Lewis |  | 2. Soviet Union |  URS | 38.02s |   |  |  Aleksandr Yevgenyev, Viktor Bryzgin, Vladimir Muravyov, Vladimir Krylov |  | 3. Jamaica |  JAM | 38.41s |   |  |  John Mair, Andrew Smith, Clive Wright, Raymond Stewart |  | 4. Canada |  CAN | 38.47s |   |  |  Ben Johnson, Atlee Mahorn, Desai Williams, Mike Dwyer |  | 5. West Germany |  FRG | 38.73s |   |  |  Fritz Heer, Volker Westhagemann, Christian Haas, Norbert Dobeleit |  | 6. Hungary |  HUN | 39.04s |   |  |  Istvan Nagy, Laszlo Karaffa, Istvan Tatar, Attila Kovacs |  | 7. Italy |  ITA | 39.62s |   |  |  Ezio Madonia, Domenico Gorla, Paolo Catalano, Pierfrancesco Pavoni |  | 8. China |  CHN | 39.93s |   |  |  Tao Li, Jianming Cai, Feng Li, Chen Zheng |   
| Semi 1 | time | Rk. | __________ |  | 1. Soviet Union |  URS | 38.29s | 1. |   |  |  Aleksandr Yevgenyev, Viktor Bryzgin, Vladimir Muravyov, Vladimir Krylov |  | 2. Canada |  CAN | 38.50s | 3. |   |  |  Ben Johnson, Atlee Mahorn, Desai Williams, Mike Dwyer |  | 3. West Germany |  FRG | 38.84s | 6. |   |  |  Fritz Heer, Volker Westhagemann, Christian Haas, Norbert Dobeleit |  | 4. Italy |  ITA | 39.52s | 10. |   |  |  Ezio Madonia, Stefano Tilli, Paolo Catalano, Pierfrancesco Pavoni |  | 5. Japan |  JPN | 39.71s | 11. |   |  |  Kaoru Matsubara, Hirohisa Ota, Masahiro Nagura, Hiroki Fuwa |  | 6. Spain |  ESP | 39.74s | 12. |   |  |  Miguel Angel Garcia, Juan Jose Prado, Angel Heras, Javier Arques |  | 7. Ghana |  GHA | 39.94s | 14. |   |  |  John Myles-Mills, Emmanuel Tuffour, Salaam Gariba, Eric Akogyiram |  | 8. Senegal |  SEN | 40.22s | 15. |   |  |  Charles-Louis Seck, Hamidou Diawara, Joseph Dias, Amadou Mbaye |   
| Semi 2 | time | Rk. | __________ |  | 1. United States |  USA | 38.33s | 2. |   |  |  Lee McRae, Lee McNeill, Harvey Glance, Dennis Mitchell |  | 2. Jamaica |  JAM | 38.66s | 4. |   |  |  John Mair, Andrew Smith, Clive Wright, Raymond Stewart |  | 3. Hungary |  HUN | 38.78s | 5. |   |  |  Istvan Nagy, Laszlo Karaffa, Istvan Tatar, Attila Kovacs |  | 4. China |  CHN | 39.05s | 7. |   |  |  Tao Li, Jianming Cai, Feng Li, Chen Zheng |  | 5. Cuba |  CUB | 39.08s | 8. |   |  |  Ricardo Chacon, Leandro Penalver, Sergio Querol, Andres Simon |  | 6. Brazil |  BRA | 39.22s | 9. |   |  |  Joilto Bonfim, Carlos De Oliveira, Arnaldo Oliveira Silva, Robson Caetano Da Silva |  | 7. Taiwan |  TPE | 39.90s | 13. |   |  |  Cheng-Chuan Lai, Shiun-Long Lee, Yih-Yuan Chang, Hsin-Fu Cheng |  | 8. Portugal |  POR | 40.24s | 16. |   |  |  Arnaldo Abrantes, Pedro Curvelo, Luis Cunha, Luis Barroso |   
| Heat 1 | time | Rk. | __________ |  | 1. United States |  USA | 38.80s | 2. |   |  |  Lee McRae, Lee McNeill, Harvey Glance, Dennis Mitchell |  | 2. Hungary |  HUN | 39.11s | 6. |   |  |  Istvan Nagy, Laszlo Karaffa, Istvan Tatar, Attila Kovacs |  | 3. Japan |  JPN | 39.49s | 8. |   |  |  Kaoru Matsubara, Hirohisa Ota, Masahiro Nagura, Hiroki Fuwa |  | 4. China |  CHN | 39.63s | 11. |   |  |  Tao Li, Jianming Cai, Feng Li, Chen Zheng |  | 5. Spain |  ESP | 40.20s | 16. |   |  |  Enrique Talavera, Juan Jose Prado, Miguel Angel Garcia, Javier Arques |  | 6. Uganda |  UGA | 40.22s | 17. |   |  |  Moses Musonge, Joseph Ssali, Sunday Olweny, Edward Bitoga |  | -. Great Britain |  GBR | DQ |   |   |  |  Lincoln Asquith, John Regis, Mike McFarlane, Clarence Callender |   
| Heat 2 | time | Rk. | __________ |  | 1. Soviet Union |  URS | 38.98s | 4. |   |  |  Aleksandr Yevgenyev, Viktor Bryzgin, Vladimir Muravyov, Andrey Fedoriv |  | 2. West Germany |  FRG | 39.10s | 5. |   |  |  Fritz Heer, Volker Westhagemann, Christian Haas, Norbert Dobeleit |  | 3. Brazil |  BRA | 39.57s | 9. |   |  |  Joilto Bonfim, De Oliveira, Silva Carlos, Da Arnaldo Oliveira |  | 4. Italy |  ITA | 39.58s | 10. |   |  |  Ezio Madonia, Stefano Tilli, Paolo Catalano, Pierfrancesco Pavoni |  | 5. Ghana |  GHA | 39.77s | 12. |   |  |  John Myles-Mills, Emmanuel Tuffour, Salaam Gariba, Eric Akogyiram |  | 6. Taiwan |  TPE | 40.05s | 14. |   |  |  Cheng-Chuan Lai, Shiun-Long Lee, Yih-Yuan Chang, Hsin-Fu Cheng |   
| Heat 3 | time | Rk. | __________ |  | 1. Canada |  CAN | 38.76s | 1. |   |  |  Ben Johnson, Atlee Mahorn, Desai Williams, Mike Dwyer |  | 2. Jamaica |  JAM | 38.88s | 3. |   |  |  John Mair, Andrew Smith, Clive Wright, Raymond Stewart |  | 3. Cuba |  CUB | 39.44s | 7. |   |  |  Ricardo Chacon, Leandro Penalver, Sergio Querol, Andres Simon |  | 4. Senegal |  SEN | 39.83s | 13. |   |  |  Charles-Louis Seck, Hamidou Diawara, Joseph Dias, Amadou Mbaye |  | 5. Portugal |  POR | 40.10s | 15. |   |  |  Arnaldo Abrantes, Pedro Curvelo, Luis Cunha, Luis Barroso |  | -. Nigeria |  NGR | DNS |   |   |  |  Augustine Olobia, Patrick Nwankwo, Innocent Egbunike, Chidi Imoh |   
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