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The men's 4×100 metres relay was one of 23 track events of the athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics, in Athens. It was contested at the Athens Olympic Stadium, from August 27 and August 28, by a total of sixteen national teams comprising 64 athletes.

The sixteen teams competed in a two-heat qualifying round in which the first three teams from each heat, together with the next two fastest teams, were given a place in the final race.

The United States were favorites going into the final, but poor baton changes led to Great Britain's team narrowly defeating them in a photo-finish. The Great Britain final time of 38.07 seconds was actually slower than the 38.02 seconds posted by the United States in their qualifying heat. The final runners — Mark Lewis-Francis and Maurice Greene — received their batons at roughly the same time but with Greene some two metres behind; in a spectacular race down the straight, Lewis-Francis held off his better-credentialed opponent to secure the win for his team.

Gold	Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish, Mark Lewis-Francis and Jason Gardener Great Britain (GBR)
Silver	Shawn Crawford, Justin Gatlin, Maurice Greene and Coby Miller United States (USA)
Bronze	Deji Aliu, Aaron Egbele, Uchenna Emedolu and Olusoji Fasuba Nigeria (NGR)

The Olympic qualification period for the athletics' relay events ran from January 1, 2003 to July 21, 2004. A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter a maximum of one qualified relay team per relay event, with a maximum of six qualified athletes. For this event, an NOC would be invited to participate with a relay team if the average of the team's two best times — obtained in IAAF-sanctioned meetings or tournaments — would be among the best sixteen, at the end of this period.

These are the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 2004 Summer Olympics.

World Record	37.40	United States	Barcelona (ESP)	8 August 1992
Olympic Record	37.40	United States	Barcelona (ESP)	8 August 1992

All times are shown in seconds. The following abbreviations are used:

• Q denotes qualification by place
• q denotes qualification by time
• DNF denotes "did not finish"
• NR denotes "national record"
• SB denotes "season best"

The qualifying round was held on August 27. The first three teams in each of two heats plus the next two fastest teams qualified for the final.

Heat	Nation	Athletes	Time		Rank
1	Nigeria (NGR)	Deji Aliu Aaron Egbele Uchenna Emedolu Olusoji Fasuba	38.27	SB	2	Q
1	Poland (POL)	Lukasz Chyla Marcin Jedrusinski Zbigniew Tulin Marcin Urbas	38.47	SB	3	Q
1	Australia (AUS)	Adam Basil Paul Di Bella Patrick Johnson Joshua Ross	38.49	SB	4	Q
1	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	Nicconnor Alexander Ato Boldon Darrel Brown Marc Burns	38.53	=NR	5	q
1	Japan (JPN)	Nobuharu Asahara Shingo Suetsugu Shinji Takahira Hiroyasu Tsuchie	38.53		5	q
1	Germany (GER)	Till Helmke Alexander Kosenkow Ronny Ostwald Tobias Unger	38.64		8
1	Canada (CAN)	Charles Allen Pierre Browne Anson Henry Nicolas Macrozonaris	38.64	SB	8
1	Russia (RUS)	Sergey Bychkov Aleksandr Ryabov Oleg Sergeyev Andrey Yepishin	39.19		15
2	United States (USA)	Shawn Crawford Maurice Greene Coby Miller Darvis Patton	38.02		1	Q
2	Great Britain (GBR)	Darren Campbell Marlon Devonish Jason Gardener Mark Lewis-Francis	38.53	SB	5	Q
2	Brazil (BRA)	Vicente de Lima Edson Luciano Ribeiro André da Silva Claudio Roberto Souza	38.64		8	Q
2	Jamaica (JAM)	Michael Frater Patrick Jarrett Winston Smith Dwight Thomas	38.71	SB	11
2	Italy (ITA)	Maurizio Checcucci Simone Collio Massimiliano Donati Marco Torrieri	38.79		12
2	Ghana (GHA)	Tanko Braimah Leonard Myles-Mills Christian Nsiah Aziz Zakari	38.88	SB	13
2	France (FRA)	David Alerte Frederic Krantz Issa Aime Nthepe Ronald Pognon	38.93		14
2	Netherlands (NED)	Patrick van Balkom Timothy Beck Caimin Douglas Troy Douglas	999 DNF		999 —

The final was held on August 28.

Rank	Nation	Athletes	Time
	Great Britain (GBR)	Darren Campbell Marlon Devonish Jason Gardener Mark Lewis-Francis	38.07	SB
	United States (USA)	Shawn Crawford Justin Gatlin Maurice Greene Coby Miller	38.08
	Nigeria (NGR)	Deji Aliu Aaron Egbele Uchenna Emedolu Olusoji Fasuba	38.23	SB
4	Japan (JPN)	Nobuharu Asahara Shingo Suetsugu Shinji Takahira Hiroyasu Tsuchie	38.49
5	Poland (POL)	Lukasz Chyla Marcin Jedrusinski Zbigniew Tulin Marcin Urbas	38.54
6	Australia (AUS)	Adam Basil Paul Di Bella Patrick Johnson Joshua Ross	38.56
7	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	Nicconnor Alexander Ato Boldon Darrel Brown Marc Burns	38.60
8	Brazil (BRA)	Vicente de Lima Edson Luciano Ribeiro André da Silva Claudio Roberto Souza	38.67

• Athens Olympic Games 2004 - Results. IAAF (2004). Retrieved on 2007-08-22.