The men's 4 × 400 metres relay competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was held at the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange on 19–20 August.

[4] The final began with Botswana's Isaac Makwala, the seventh fastest man in history and Jamaica's Peter Matthews taking it out hard.

Tony McQuay ran the turn hard to get the jump on Botswana's fifth place open sprinter, 18 year old Karabo Sibanda at the break.

Because USA had the lead at the half way mark of the lap, Sibanda had to move back out to lane 2 to find his teammate Onkabetse Nkobolo.

Coming off the turn, unimpeded, Roberts stumbled and lost his balance, throwing his baton hand high in the air to right himself and avert a disaster by stepping inside of the curb.

The final handoff, Roberts to bronze medalist LaShawn Merritt, Botswana to Leaname Maotoanong was clean.

Bahamas' "Fireman" Chris Brown gained the edge over Jamaica's Javon Francis on their handoff three metres up on the Borlée brothers.

Down the backstretch and into the final turn, Maotoanong stayed consistently about 2 metres behind Merritt as Brown, Francis and Kevin Borlée crept closer.