4 × 400 m relay, women

What to remember

On October 1, 1988, at the Seoul Olympics, the Soviet team covered the 1600 m of the 4 × 400 m relay in 3 min 15.17 s, an average of 29.513 km/h. The line-up was Tatyana Ledovskaya, Olga Nazarova, Mariya Pinigina and Olga Bryzgina.

Ledovskaya, a 400 m hurdles specialist who trained in Minsk, had a full Games: she took silver in the 400 m hurdles behind Australia's Debbie Flintoff-King, and gold in the relay. In this long relay, the first leg and the first bend of the second leg are run in lanes, after which runners usually move to the inside. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet.

In 1969, the record stood at 3 min 30.8 s. It shows 3 min 19.2 s in 1976, then 3 min 15.92 s in 1984. Over 19 years the time fell by 7.4%. The slightly longer 4 × 440 yards relay was once run in the British Commonwealth and the United States, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.