4×400m Relay World Record in Barcelona 1992

[TXejas19]

I know why they start at different points on the track but it looks so discouraging

[TheBlackKatana]

whoa youtube has a replay button

[lailalolipop]

@Therachh3 because apparently they are slower than him.........  Dam ur stupid

[blknstuff]

Butch Reynolds was banned because they said he has a positive test after he ran a then world record time of 43.29 at the worlds. It was later revealed that the company( IAAF) made a mistake and Reynolds year ban was lifted. He sued the shit out of the IAAF and won. The US broke this record with Butch when he came back.

[Juluka69]

@blknstuff You forgot to mention he was also awarded a whooping 17million dollars for the wrongful ban . Credit to him for a great comeback even if he was forever number two behind the great Mike Johnson theresfter

[levyman97]

it would of been so amazing to be on that 4x400m team.

[Therachh3]

why is everyone else so far behind? 

[lanpetpet7]

All American runner are blacks

[Juluka69]

@lanpetpet7 Don't think so mate, Jeremy Wariner is white as far as I know but yes most are black just like most of their Basketball players are but go to the swimming team and it's the opposite...

[lanpetpet7]

@Juluka69 oh..i mean only shown on this video :)

[Juluka69]

@lanpetpet7 Ok, in the USA some sports seem to be a preserve of certain races and that's why you 'll see very few blacks representing the USA in ice skating or swimming for example. Blacks dominate boxing, track n field and basket ball...

[kozmon0t]

@Juluka69 go above 400m and it's just the opposite. American blacks get into sprinting because of football.

[Juluka69]

@kozmon0t Not really 'cause of football, they just happen to be more talented in sprinting and there's lots of that in football hence the co relation. Remember many play Basketball too where they don't sprint as much yet they are good.

[kozmon0t]

@Juluka69 American blacks play basketball because of the history of how basketball developed.

There's no more sprint talent in a black than anyone else, it's just how the American prep sports machine works. Football in the fall, basketball in the winter, then spring is kind of the offseason where some of them play baseball and some go to track. RB and end are popular black football positions, so they pick sprints. Whites of the same size are made linebackers or QB's and play baseball.

[kozmon0t]

@Juluka69 meanwhile for the rest of track, there's no full season except for distances, and in most areas, no indoor track season. There's no sport for a full-time sprinter in fall or winter, and it's impossible to maintain training like that. So all sprinters pretty much come from football, and reflects its demographic.

Distance runners in America are overwhelmingly white, does that mean whites are better DR's, of course not. The prep machine doesn't push blacks into distance, that's all.

[Juluka69]

@kozmon0t Interesting observations brother, don't know much about prep machines but I know for sure genes play a part much as the general body make up also does. I come from Kenya, a country of very many great distance runners but hardly any sprinters. Sprinters have fast twitch muscles which seem to be found more in blacks. Jamaica too have more black sprinters don't they , n they don't have the American prep machine.

[kozmon0t]

@Juluka69 Jamaica has a black majority, and they like to play soccer.

There could be great Kenyan sprinters, but if Kenya focused on that, the Algerians and Moroccans would own the mile records forever.

[Juluka69]

@kozmon0t U r right Kozo Jamaica is mostly black n they love soccer too but sorry we just don't have natural sprinters in Kenya, that is a preserve of the West Africans who seem to produce the sprinters in Africa. Again fast twitch / slow twitch muscles is the thing, some have it some don't.

[kozmon0t]

@Juluka69 If you train right it will reach the right balance, genes or no genes.

You all could sprint if you tried. Even John Ngugi could have sprinted if he'd trained for it.

[japslapr]

@kozmon0t we could all train and get better, yes. But, you can not take a person with poor genes and train them from day one to be a sprinter and expect to break records. genetics plays a huge factor in it. People that run track get into it because their usually already quite fast.

[kozmon0t]

@japslapr there's never been any evidence that kids with talent got their talent from genetics, as opposed to just the way they grew up. It's just a conventional wisdom.

There's a CW that North and East Africans are better equipped genetically for distance, but there's a big gap between the 60's and mid 80's where they didn't win much at all. There was Henry Rono and Abebe Bikila, but then the era of Viren, then Coe, Ovett, Cram, before Said Aouita started to dominate.

[japslapr]

@kozmon0t This is absolutely incorrect. There have been plenty of studies proving the African Americans have nearly double the fast twitch muscle fibers of a white person. Is this not genetic? This is exactly the reason that the fastest sprinters are black.

[kozmon0t]

@japslapr reference them, then. Or is that just something you heard? That's what conventional wisdom is. Hearsay that's heard and said so much, people believe it as fact.

In swimming, the 50m requires high fast-twitch proportion too, yet isn't dominated by African Americans. There's people who say that's because "whites" have a lower center of mass, which is ludicrous. It's because "white" kids are more often taught to swim in childhood. Period. Same with running and "blacks."

[japslapr]

@kozmon0t All you have to do is look up Western African and muscle fiber and you'll find tons of info, some even scholarly journals. I found one but YT is not allowing me to post the link. I'm not trying to be a prick, just look it up. There is credible info on the topic.

[kozmon0t]

@japslapr Unless these studies you want me to search for involved biopsies of newborns, they can't demonstrate a genetic cause, so they're pointless.

There's also a conspicuous lack of world champion sprinters who are actually from West Africa, as opposed to the Western Hemisphere.

[Aarontlondon]

@japslapr It's not a case of being genetically West African. Europeans created a super 'West African' race through slavery where West Africans mixed a little with European and this gave African Americans etc an added advantage over original West Africans

[XstrikexXx]

U know IRS a good time web the whole video is shorter then ur time

[brennonacorn]

U.S is always the best

[Juluka69]

Who ran the first leg for the USA in this race ? Think Quincy Watts did 2nd, Mike Johnson 3rd and Steve Lewis anchoring.

[makeemlighter]

@Juluka69 Andrew Valmon led off.

[lfholt7]

WOW! Usually these guys look like they're jogging until you see the times. Steve Lewis looked like he was running fast as hell and actually was! What a time!!

[Juluka69]

@lfholt7 Steve did a sub 44.00 for sure but what a scintillating run by Quincy Watts the 400 flat gold medallist, think he wrapped up the race early for them. Where was Reynolds Butch ???

[personify505]

at least let the race finish!

[shockjay]

If Johnson had run his normal 43.5 the over time would have been under 2:53

[phastman1994]

@shockjay Under 2:53? Johnson ran a 44.7s split here, if he were healthy and ran a 43.5s split the time would have been around 2:54.5..

[kopk888]

lol @ the guys pushing each others waiting for baton to come

[mallorcaclass]

EXCELENT CUBA 2:59:13 Martínez Lázaro, Herrera Hector, Téllez Norberto, Hernández Roberto

[lilathletic]

damn they freakin fast

[AboveAllNations]

Michael Johnson ran a 44.8 split? While his teammates all ran sub-44s? That doesn't make any sense. This record could have been a second lower!

[Harppuunamies]

@AboveAllNations "Two weeks before the 1992 Summer Olympics began, Johnson and his agent both contracted food poisoning at a restaurant in Spain.Johnson lost both weight and strength. He was the favorite to win the 200 m going into the Olympics, but he could do no better than sixth in his semifinal heat, and failed to reach the 200 m final. Nevertheless, he was able to race as a member of the 4 x 400 m relay team, which won a gold medal and set a new world record time of 2:55.74.

[Harppuunamies]

@AboveAllNations Johnson ran the third leg in a time of 44.73." hmm, maybe that food poisoning explains it, I'm not sure though.

[rawjudgement]

@Harppuunamies Yes Actually, during that time period Johnson had actually gotten food poisoning and it costed him the 200m race in the olympics. He came 5th in the semi-finals and never qualified for the finals. The food poison had actually changed his whole body as well. Making him weaker and losing weight. So yeah the food poisoning actually affected his time in this race.

[phastman1994]

@AboveAllNations True but Johnson wasn't in his best shape in 1992, in fact he got food poisoning which caused him to fail making the 200m Olympic final which was why his split was only 44.8.

[veras87]

It will be a very long time before another team is put together that can challenge the 4x400m World Record.

[kopk888]

sick!

[PhiyukYu]

why are they pushing and shoving at the exchange zone?

[colossalko]

@PhiyukYu its allowed. they try to be as far inside as possible

[Twisterpa1]

@PhiyukYu Because people pass each other, the person in front has to be on the inside.

[j0wled]

Still, irritating that they can't cut to see who gets second.

[acejrambo]

god only know's how many times the us have used drugs.pettigrew at last proved to be a cheat....

[tietajajoshua]

STATISTICS CALCULATION - from

BR-0 com/olympics htm

[southsea1984]

Says it all about the Americans that we don't even get to see whether GBR or CUB finished second in the race :)

[dredandmrbears]

Maybe if they ran a little faster we would know

[azfeet22]

Cuba won the silver and Great Britian won the bronze.

[mc1703]

@southsea1984 amen

[tallbr0]

holy shit they pusshing n shoving

[PeopleThatDie]

USA could pick Kevin Young.....

[saladinabu]

Great run from Lewis - whoever he is

[veras87]

Steve Lewis is one of the fastest 400m runners ever. One of only nine people ever to run under 44.00. Has a personal best of 43.87

[jrussell04]

Steve Lewis was the 1988 Olympic 400m champion, when he was only 18 or 19 years old. His time of 43.87, that won the Olympic title over Butch Reynolds, who just broke the 400m World Record 5 weeks earlier, still stands as the World Junior Record. His time stands him the 7th fastest man over 400m. Only Johnson, Reynolds, Wariner, Watts, Merritt, Danny Everett and Lee Evans has ran faster over 400m than Lewis. He also won the Silver Medal 4 years later in 1992 in 400m. 3 golds and 1 Silver.

[jrussell04]

3 Olympics Champions in the 400 meters. Steve Lewis (1988), Quincy Watts(1992), Michael Johnson(1996, 2000), all on this relay team

[htownhomie06]

92 was Quincy's year. and 2 think Michael Johnson was the duck on this olympic lineup?!?!??! lol

[ranhill]

I was thinking the same thing. If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, runs like a duck, it must be a ...Michael Johnson??? lol ! Boy, did he kick it up a notch after this or what?!

[YiftertheShifter1]

MJ went to a Spanish restaurant and got food poisoning during these games... he lost much of his strength/ weight, resulting in a poor 200m semifinal.

[veras87]

Johnson got food poisoning this year, he was favorite in th 200m untlil he got sick.

[htownhomie06]

i know. i was only commenting about how strong this team was -- given a "sick" MJ was the quote/unquote "weak link" and they still broke the WR (at the time).

[lamar9606]

@veras87 that why u dont eat food over seas lol

[oye123321]

exactly, that's crazy!

[dOmInO0o0o0]

ThEm nIkKaS aRe TaLl

[moye41]

tom hammonds nbc

[rawjudgement]

Hahah yaa i know its crazy how he changed in a couple of years to being so big

[danieloshea69]

@rawjudgement Crazy indeed... I wonder how he did it?

[rawjudgement]

@danieloshea69 Yeah right lol. Well I read his book "Slaying the Dragon" and I recommend reading it if you want to know how to become a champion. Honestly though it doesn't show much of his workout, but it does explain how he surpassed his struggles. In the book he states that he had trouble with a few issues and what he did was in order to stay focus on his goals he wrote a list and followed it everyday, basically a schedule of his workout and so he just maintained it and became a success.

[runningeddie01]

awesome race! Michael Johnson was so skinny back then......has to be the best 4x400m relay ever!

[pats14fann01]

He wasn't in the best of health during these olympics in 1992. I watched this race and thought this was Amazing. Andrew Valmon, (Olympic champ) Quincy Watts, MJ, and (1988 olympic champ) Steve Lewis.... new WR (then)!!