Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles

The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 23 to 26. There were 35 competitors from 24 nations. The event was won by Félix Sánchez of the Dominican Republic, the nation's first medal in the men's 400 metres hurdles. Silver went to Danny McFarlane of Jamaica, returning to the podium in the event for the first time since 1992. Naman Keïta's bronze was France's first medal in the event in over 100 years; the last Frenchman to medal in the long hurdles was Henri Tauzin in 1900. The United States' five-Games gold medal (and podium) streak ended; for only the second time in the history of the event, Americans competed but won no medals (after 1968, with the United States also not on the podium in 1980 due to the boycott).

Men's 400 metres hurdles at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Félix Sánchez (2005)
Venue	Athens Olympic Stadium
Dates	23–26 August
Competitors	35 from 24 nations
Winning time	47.63
Medalists
Félix Sánchez  Dominican Republic Danny McFarlane  Jamaica Naman Keïta  France

Official Video

Background

This was the 23rd time the event was held. It had been introduced along with the men's 200 metres hurdles in 1900, with the 200 being dropped after 1904 and the 400 being held through 1908 before being left off the 1912 programme. However, when the Olympics returned in 1920 after World War I, the men's 400 metres hurdles was back and would continue to be contested at every Games thereafter.

The top four of the eight finalists from the 2000 Games returned: gold medalist Angelo Taylor of the United States, silver medalist Hadi Souan Somayli of Saudi Arabia, bronze medalist Llewellyn Herbert of South Africa, and fourth-place finisher James Carter of the United States. Félix Sánchez of the Dominican Republic had finished 20th in 2000, but had risen to prominence since as he won the 2001 and 2003 World Championships. He was the favorite in Athens. Defending champion Taylor made it to the semifinals but did not qualify for the final.

Belize, Kazakhstan, Mali, and Niger each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 22nd appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Summary

In the final, a false start had been accredited to at least three athletes including Dominican Republic's Félix Sánchez, a solid pre-race favorite in this event. Nonetheless, he sped out of the blocks, and quickly opened his lead over the American and fastest pre-Olympic entrant James Carter on the sixth hurdle. The two had chased against each other towards the final bend with Carter pulling ahead into the lead. As Carter went backwards in the last two hurdles, Sanchez left the field trailing to quickly move again to the front and maintained it to a blazing finish in his seasonal best at 47.63 seconds, extending his winning streak on his forty-third race since the previous defeat in 2001. Behind him, Jamaican hurdler Danny McFarlane and delighted Frenchman Naman Keïta edged Carter out to a ragged fourth to deny the American supremacy on the podium for the first time at a non-boycotted Games since 1968, giving both of them the silver and bronze respectively.

Qualification

Main article: Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Qualification

The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the men's 400 metres hurdles, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 49.20 seconds or faster during the qualification period. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run the race in 49.50 seconds or faster could be entered.

Competition format

The competition used the three-round format used every Games since 1908 (except the four-round competition in 1952): quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. The hurdles were 3 feet (91.5 centimetres) tall and were placed 35 metres apart beginning 45 metres from the starting line, resulting in a 40 metres home stretch after the last hurdle. The 400 metres track was standard.

There were 5 quarterfinal heats with 7 athletes each. The top 4 men in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals along with the next fastest 4 overall. The 24 semifinalists were divided into 3 semifinals of 8 athletes each, with the top 2 in each semifinal and the next 2 fastest overall advancing to the 8-man final.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows:

World record	Kevin Young (USA)	46.78	Barcelona, Spain	6 August 1992
Olympic record	Kevin Young (USA)	46.78	Barcelona, Spain	6 August 1992
World Leading	James Carter (USA)	47.68	Sacramento, United States	11 July 2004

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

Date	Time	Round
Monday, 23 August 2004	19:30	Quarterfinals
Tuesday, 24 August 2004	21:05	Semifinals
Thursday, 26 August 2004	22:30	Final

Results

Quarterfinals

Qualification rule: The first four finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next four fastest overall runners (q) advanced to the semifinals.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	8	Angelo Taylor	United States	48.79	Q
2	6	Jiří Mužík	Czech Republic	48.85	Q, SB
3	3	Chris Rawlinson	Great Britain	48.94	Q
4	5	Boris Gorban	Russia	49.25	Q
5	2	Yevgeniy Meleshenko	Kazakhstan	49.43	q
6	4	Ken Yoshizawa	Japan	50.95
7	7	Kurt Couto	Mozambique	51.18	NR

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	2	Danny McFarlane	Jamaica	48.53	Q, SB
2	3	Bennie Brazell	United States	48.57	Q
3	5	Marek Plawgo	Poland	48.67	Q, SB
4	4	Llewellyn Herbert	South Africa	48.70	Q
5	6	Štěpán Tesařík	Czech Republic	49.44	q
6	7	Alaa Motar	Iraq	51.97
—	8	Yacnier Luis	Cuba	DSQ

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	8	James Carter	United States	48.64	Q
2	6	Periklis Iakovakis	Greece	48.69	Q, SB
3	7	Dai Tamesue	Japan	48.80	Q
4	4	Eduardo Iván Rodríguez	Spain	49.25	Q
5	2	Bayano Kamani	Panama	49.37	q
6	3	Ibrahima Maïga	Mali	50.63
7	5	Michael Aguilar	Belize	51.21

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	2	Félix Sánchez	Dominican Republic	48.51	Q
2	5	Alwyn Myburgh	South Africa	48.84	Q
3	4	Mikhail Lipsky	Russia	49.00	Q
4	3	Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily	Saudi Arabia	49.15	Q, SB
5	7	Dean Griffiths	Jamaica	49.41	q
6	6	Cédric El-Idrissi	Switzerland	49.44
7	8	Mowen Boino	Papua New Guinea	50.97	NR

Quarterfinal 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	8	Kemel Thompson	Jamaica	48.66	Q, SB
2	3	Naman Keïta	France	48.88	Q
3	2	Ockert Cilliers	South Africa	49.12	Q
4	4	Edivaldo Monteiro	Portugal	49.53	Q
5	6	Ibrahim Al-Hamaidi	Saudi Arabia	49.64
6	5	Matthew Douglas	Great Britain	49.77
7	7	Ibrahim Tondi	Niger	52.62

Semifinals

Qualification rule: The first two finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next two fastest overall runners (q) moved on to the final.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	5	Félix Sánchez	Dominican Republic	47.93	Q
2	3	Marek Plawgo	Poland	48.16	Q, NR
3	6	Alwyn Myburgh	South Africa	48.21	q, SB
4	4	Angelo Taylor	United States	48.72
5	7	Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily	Saudi Arabia	48.98	SB
6	2	Mikhail Lipskiy	Russia	49.10
7	1	Edivaldo Monteiro	Portugal	49.26
8	8	Dean Griffiths	Jamaica	49.51

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3	Danny McFarlane	Jamaica	48.00	Q, PB
2	5	Bennie Brazell	United States	48.19	Q
3	4	Dai Tamesue	Japan	48.46	SB
4	6	Periklis Iakovakis	Greece	48.47	SB
5	2	Llewellyn Herbert	South Africa	48.57
6	8	Eduardo Iván Rodríguez	Spain	49.77
7	7	Štěpán Tesařík	Czech Republic	49.87
8	1	Chris Rawlinson	Great Britain	50.89

Semifinal 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3	James Carter	United States	48.18	Q
2	7	Bayano Kamani	Panama	48.23	Q, NR
3	6	Naman Keïta	France	48.24	q
4	4	Kemel Thompson	Jamaica	48.25	SB
5	5	Jiří Mužík	Czech Republic	48.88
6	1	Ockert Cilliers	South Africa	49.01
7	2	Boris Gorban	Russia	49.46
8	8	Yevgeniy Meleshenko	Kazakhstan	49.48

Final

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
	6	Félix Sánchez	Dominican Republic	47.63	SB
	5	Danny McFarlane	Jamaica	48.11
	7	Naman Keïta	France	48.26
4	4	James Carter	United States	48.58
5	2	Bayano Kamani	Panama	48.74
6	3	Marek Plawgo	Poland	49.00
7	1	Alwyn Myburgh	South Africa	49.07
8	8	Bennie Brazell	United States	49.51

Results summary

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final	Notes
	Félix Sánchez	Dominican Republic	48.51	47.93	47.63	SB
	Danny McFarlane	Jamaica	48.53	48.00	48.11	PB
	Naman Keïta	France	48.88	48.24	48.26
4	James Carter	United States	48.64	48.18	48.58
5	Bayano Kamani	Panama	49.37	48.23	48.74	NR
6	Marek Plawgo	Poland	48.67	48.16	49.00	NR
7	Alwyn Myburgh	South Africa	48.84	48.21	49.07	SB
8	Bennie Brazell	United States	48.57	48.19	49.51
9	Kemel Thompson	Jamaica	48.66	48.25	Did not advance	SB
10	Dai Tamesue	Japan	48.80	48.46		SB
11	Periklis Iakovakis	Greece	48.69	48.47		SB
12	Llewellyn Herbert	South Africa	48.70	48.57
13	Angelo Taylor	United States	48.79	48.72
14	Jiří Mužík	Czech Republic	48.85	48.88		SB
15	Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily	Saudi Arabia	49.15	48.98		SB
16	Ockert Cilliers	South Africa	49.12	49.01
17	Mikhail Lipskiy	Russia	49.00	49.10
18	Edivaldo Monteiro	Portugal	49.53	49.26
19	Boris Gorban	Russia	49.25	49.46
20	Yevgeniy Meleshenko	Kazakhstan	49.43	49.48
21	Dean Griffiths	Jamaica	49.41	49.51
22	Eduardo Iván Rodríguez	Spain	49.25	49.77
23	Štěpán Tesařík	Czech Republic	49.44	49.87
24	Chris Rawlinson	Great Britain	48.94	50.89
25	Cédric El-Idrissi	Switzerland	49.44	Did not advance
26	Ibrahim Al-Hamaidi	Saudi Arabia	49.64
27	Matthew Douglas	Great Britain	49.77
28	Ibrahima Maïga	Mali	50.63
29	Ken Yoshizawa	Japan	50.95
30	Mowen Boino	Papua New Guinea	50.97			NR
31	Kurt Couto	Mozambique	51.18			NR
32	Michael Aguilar	Belize	51.21
33	Alaa Motar	Iraq	51.97
34	Ibrahim Tondi	Niger	52.62
35	Yacnier Luis	Cuba	DSQ

External links

• IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage