The men's 400 metres at the
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
as part of the
athletics program were held at the
Athens Olympic Stadium
The Olympic Stadium of Athens " Spyros Louis" ( el, Ολυμπιακό Στάδιο Αθηνών "Σπύρος Λούης", ''Olympiakó Stádio Athinon "Spyros Louis"'') is a sports stadium in Athens, Greece. It is a part of the Athens Olympic ...
from August 20 to 23.
Sixty-two athletes from 48 nations competed.
The event was won by
Jeremy Wariner
Jeremy Matthew Wariner (born January 31, 1984) is a retired American track athlete specializing in the 400 meters. He has won four Olympic medals (three gold, one silver) and six World Championships medals. He is the fourth fastest competitor in ...
of the United States, the sixth in what would ultimately be 7 consecutive American victories stretching from 1984 to 2008 and the 18th overall title in the event by the United States. The United States swept the podium for the 4th time in the event (1904, 1968, 1988).
Summary
The first round had split a full roster of runners into eight heats with the first two gaining a direct qualification and then the next eight fastest across all heats advancing to the semifinals. The top two runners in each of the three semifinal heats moved on directly to the final, and they were immediately joined by the next two fastest from any of the semifinals.
At the start,
Otis Harris,
Jeremy Wariner
Jeremy Matthew Wariner (born January 31, 1984) is a retired American track athlete specializing in the 400 meters. He has won four Olympic medals (three gold, one silver) and six World Championships medals. He is the fourth fastest competitor in ...
, and
Derrick Brew
Derrick Keith Brew (born December 28, 1977) is a 2004 Olympic Gold medalist in the Men's 4x400 meter relay for the United States. Earlier in the games he took third in the US sweep of the 400m.
Born in Houston, Texas, he attended Klein Fores ...
stormed out from the blocks to take a powerful lead over the rest of the field. Harris commanded the top position for the Americans throughout the race, but in the final turn he was chased down by Wariner. Slightly behind coming off the turn, Wariner stormed ahead over the last hundred metres to win the race at 44.00 seconds, the fastest time ever recorded in this event since American legend
Michael Johnson won the gold in
Sydney 2000
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
. Harris held on to take the silver with Brew separating from the pack over the final straight to give the United States
a sweep of the medal podium for the third time in the event's Olympic history, having previously managed at the
1968 Mexico City Olympics and the
1988 Seoul Olympics.
At the end of the final, seven
sprinters managed to finish the race under 45 seconds, and five personal bests were recorded.
Background
This was the 25th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from 2000 returned; the only medalist from the 2003 world championships to compete was bronze winner
Michael Blackwood of Jamaica. The American team of
Jeremy Wariner
Jeremy Matthew Wariner (born January 31, 1984) is a retired American track athlete specializing in the 400 meters. He has won four Olympic medals (three gold, one silver) and six World Championships medals. He is the fourth fastest competitor in ...
,
Otis Harris, and
Derrick Brew
Derrick Keith Brew (born December 28, 1977) is a 2004 Olympic Gold medalist in the Men's 4x400 meter relay for the United States. Earlier in the games he took third in the US sweep of the 400m.
Born in Houston, Texas, he attended Klein Fores ...
was strong, even without two-time defending champion
Michael Johnson, who had retired. Their top competition was
Alleyne Francique
Alleyne Jeremy Francique (born June 7, 1976) is a retired Grenadian athlete who specialized in 400 metres, his personal best being 44.47 seconds set in 2004. He is the 400m two time world indoor champion in 2004 and 2006.
He won his first wor ...
of Grenada, the Central American and Caribbean champion and indoor champion.
[
Dominica, Guinea-Bissau, Slovenia, and Uruguay appeared in this event for the first time. The United States made its 24th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.
]
Qualification
The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the men's 400 metres, each National Olympic Committee
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...
was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 45.55 seconds or faster during the qualification period. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run the race in 45.95 seconds or faster could be entered.
Competition format
In the first significant change in format since 1964, the competition was reduced from four rounds to three; it was the first time since 1912 that only three rounds were held. The "fastest loser" system, introduced in 1964, was used for the first round and semifinals (the first time it was used for semifinals, as the shift from four rounds to three meant that there were three semifinals instead of two). There were 8 first-round heats, each with 7 or 8 runners (before a withdrawal reduced one heat to 6). The top two runners in each heat advanced, along with the next eight fastest overall. The 24 semifinalists were divided into 3 heats of 8 runners each. The top two runners in each semifinal heat and the next two fastest overall advanced, making an eight-man final.[Official Report, Results Book for Athletics.][
]
Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics.
No world or Olympic records were set in this event.
The following national records were established during the competition:
Schedule
Since 1984, all rounds have been held on separate days.
All times are Eastern European Summer Time
Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes it ...
(UTC+3
UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours later than the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Following the ISO 8601 standard, a time with this offset would be wri ...
)
Results
Round 1
Qualification rule: The top two finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next eight fastest overall runners (q) advanced to the semifinals.
Heat 1
Heat 2
Heat 3
Heat 4
Heat 5
Heat 6
Heat 7
Heat 8
Semifinals
Qualification rule: The top two finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next two fastest overall runners (q) advanced to the final.
Semifinal 1
Semifinal 2
Semifinal 3
Final
References
External links
IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Men's 400 metres
M
400 metres at the Olympics
Men's events at the 2004 Summer Olympics