Historically, there has been a semi-final round, but this has been eliminated as selection is now determined by time – the sixteen fastest nations during a pre-Olympic qualification period are entered.

The Olympic records for the event were both set at the 2012 Olympic Games in London: the Jamaican men's team ran 36.84 seconds and the American women's team won with 40.82 seconds, both of them world records.

The women's world record at the 2012 Olympic Games ended the forty-year absence of such a feat.

Frank Wykoff and Evelyn Ashford are the most successful athletes in the event, having each won three gold medals.

In terms of total career medals, the most successful is Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown with four (one gold and three silvers).