Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay

The men's 4 × 400 metres relay was the longer of the two men's relays on the Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics program in Munich. It was held on 9 September and 10 September 1972. The United States had the three best 400 metre runners at the Olympics. The 400 metres had been won by Vince Matthews earlier in the games. Matthews and 400 metres silver medalist, Wayne Collett staged a protest on the podium, where they were talking to each other and not standing at attention during the National Anthem. These actions caused the IOC to ban them from the rest of the Olympics. This combined with, John Smith’s hamstring injury, suffered earlier in the Olympics, caused the heavy favorite United States team to not have enough runners even with the two alternates. The U.S. was unable to compete in the event. With the U.S. team out of this opened up the field for everyone.