Fastest relay 4 x 100 metres (female)

The American 4 x 100 m relay team (Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter) knocked more than half a second off a record that had stood for almost 27 years when they clocked 40.82 seconds at the Olympic Stadium in London, UK, on 10 August 2012. The previous best 4 x 100 m relay run (41.37 seconds) was set by East Germany in Canberra, Australia, on 6 October 1985. The USA were the first 4 x 100 m relay team to post a sub-41-second time, and they also swept aside the Olympic record of 41.60, set by the East Germans at the Olympic Games in Moscow, Russia, on 1 August 1980. It was the USA's first win in the event since Atlanta 1996. The USA team included London 2012 200 m champion Felix and Jeter, who took silver in the 100 m and bronze in the 200 m in London. It was the second track world record at London 2012 after Kenya's David Rudisha eclipsed his own 800 m world record on 9 August. The oldest surviving track world records are now the women's 400 m (set by East German Marita Koch on the same night as East Germany set the 4 x 100 m relay mark) and the women's 800 m (set by Czechoslovakian Jarmila Kratochvílová on 26 July 1983).