Athletics - Team Italy

General
The Italian 4x100m relay team will be making their 19th Olympic appearance in Tokyo, and first since the 2012 Games in London. They won medals at three consecutive Games from 1932 to 1948, but have not returned to the podium since then. They have come close, finishing fourth on three occasions, most recently at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. But at recent Olympic Games they have struggled to even progress from the heats, with their last final appearance coming at the 2000 Games in Sydney where they finished seventh.

A similar trend can be seen in their world championship results. After winning a silver medal in 1983 and bronze in 1995, Italy have struggled to reach the final. They finished ranked 10th at the most recent edition in 2019, which was their first appearance at the tournament since 2013, when they also ranked 10th.

Italy secured their ticket to Tokyo by qualifying for the final at the 2021 World Relays, where they posted the fastest time in the heats but could not repeat the feat in the final, finishing second behind South Africa.