The Women's 4 x 400 metres relay races at the 2000 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held on Friday, 29 September and Saturday, 30 September. The first two in each heat and the next 2 fastest overall advanced to the final.
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Coming from the gun, Nigeria's Olabisi Afolabi was the first to break from the stagger formation in lane 3, gaining on Australia's Nova Peris-Kneebone to her outside. After the first half lap, Afolabi began to pay for her enthusiasm, tying up through the second turn where American Jearl Miles Clark and then Jamaican Sandie Richards began to assert themselves. The Jamaican's handed off slightly ahead of the Americans, but Monique Hennagan ran a strong turn to give the Americans the edge ahead of Catherine Scott, with the rest of the world, led by Nigeria and Australia, five metres back. Scott kept the gap less than a metre all the way to the home stretch, then moved into lane two to sprint for home, passing off to 400 hurdles silver medalist Deon Hemmings just ahead of Marion Jones. But Hemmings did not charge out ahead, instead allowing Jones to secure the baton and still hold the inside of the turn. Narrowing the gap, Nigeria, Australia, Great Britain and Russia were all just a few metres back. Jones almost casually built up a five metre gap in the first three quarters of a lap, then she accelerated away to give the USA a twelve metre advantage by the handoff. Hemmings held second place to that same straightaway, but a late rush on the outside by Olga Kotlyarova had Russia handing off in second place. This time Lorraine Graham held the position through the turn, forcing Irina Privalova to run the outside. With no competitors near her, LaTasha Colander expanded the American lead to almost 20 metres with 100 metres to go before slowing markedly going into the finish, jogging across the line with a 5 metre gap. Graham held off Privalova for the entire last lap. Cathy Freeman made a heroic effort to pull Australia back into fourth position, but let off the gas just before the line and was pipped by Falilat Ogunkoya. Australia's time was good enough for the Oceanian record, beating the record they set in the qualifying round.
Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes:seconds) prior to the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Medals
* Athletes who participated in the heats only and received medals.
Gold medals won by the United States team initially stripped due to doping by Marion Jones. On 16 July 2010, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in favor of the non-disqualified American women, who had appealed the International Olympic Committee's decision to disqualify them from the Sydney Games. The court said that rules in place in 2000 did not allow entire teams to be disqualified because of doping by one athlete. [1]
Results
All times shown are in seconds.
Heats
First 2 in each heat(Q) and the next 2 fastest(q) advance to the Final.
Final
The United States originally won gold, but on 10 April 2008, following Marion Jones's admission that she had used performance enhancing drugs in preparation for the Olympics, the entire team was stripped of their gold medals. On 16 July 2010, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in favor of the non-disqualified American women, who had appealed the International Olympic Committee's decision to disqualify them from the Sydney Games. The court said that rules in place in 2000 did not allow entire teams to be disqualified because of doping by one athlete. [2]