The men's 400 metres hurdles was an event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There were 55 competitors from 35 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Derrick Adkins of the United States, the nation's fourth consecutive and 16th overall victory in the event. Samuel Matete of Zambia earned that nation's first medal in the event with his silver. American Calvin Davis took bronze.

Background

This was the 21st 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.

One of the eight finalists from the 1992 Games returned: silver medalist (and 1988 finalist) Winthrop Graham of Jamaica. Samuel Matete of Zambia, the favorite in 1992 before a hamstring injury kept him out of the final, was favored again after adding two World Championship silver medals (1993 and 1995) to his 1991 victory. American Derrick Adkins had won the 1995 World Championship and was also a serious contender.

Guyana, Latvia, Mauritius, Moldova, Panama, Qatar, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Zimbabwe each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 20th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

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. Ten sets of hurdles were set on the course. 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 7 quarterfinal heats with 7 or 8 athletes each. The top 2 men in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals along with the next fastest 2 overall. The 16 semifinalists were divided into 2 semifinals of 8 athletes each, with the top 4 in each semifinal advancing to the 8-man final.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics.

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

Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Date Time Round Monday, 29 July 1996 11:45 Quarterfinals Wednesday, 31 July 1996 19:15 Semifinals Thursday, 1 August 1996 20:25 Final

Results

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 7 Ibou Faye 48.84 2 8 Fabrizio Mori 48.90 3 5 Kazuhiko Yamazaki 49.07 4 6 Dinsdale Morgan 49.16 5 4 Kehinde Aladefa 49.60 6 3 Peter Crampton 49.78 7 1 Gilbert Hashan 49.94 8 2 Salvador Vila 50.55

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Eronilde de Araujo 48.52 2 1 Laurent Ottoz 48.92 3 7 Carlos Silva 49.09 4 3 Mubarak Faraj 49.27 5 4 Miro Kocuvan 49.66 6 8 Jean-Paul Bruwier 49.69 7 5 Barnabas Kinyor 49.82 8 6 Mugur Mateescu 49.97

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Samuel Matete 48.21 2 2 Rohan Robinson 48.89 3 3 Erick Keter 49.03 4 6 Vadim Zadoynov 49.73 5 7 Hadi Somayli 49.94 6 8 Hamadou Mbaye 50.30 7 4 Llewellyn Herbert 51.13

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Bryan Bronson 49.06 2 6 Dusan Kovacs 49.23 3 3 Pawel Januszewski 49.63 4 4 Hideaki Kawamura 49.88 5 8 Julius Masvanise 50.16 6 2 Jozef Kucej 50.31 7 1 Amadou Sy Savane 50.90 8 7 Simon Hollingsworth 52.16

Quarterfinal 5

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1 Jon Ridgeon 49.31 2 8 Marc Dollendorf 49.49 3 3 Ruslan Mashchenko 49.94 4 5 Egīls Tēbelis 50.73 5 6 Domingo Cordero 51.20 6 4 Marcel Schelbert 51.20 7 2 Curt Young 55.20 — 7 Winthrop Graham

Quarterfinal 6

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Calvin Davis 48.94 2 8 Sven Nylander 49.54 3 6 Ashraf Saber 49.71 4 5 Gideon Biwott 49.74 5 1 Tom McGuirk 50.76 6 7 Cleverson Silva 51.23 7 4 Óscar Pitillas 51.35 8 3 Lancelot Gittens 54.79

Quarterfinal 7

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 6 Derrick Adkins 48.46 2 8 Everson Teixeira 48.52 3 3 Ken Harnden 48.54 4 7 Neil Gardner 48.30 5 1 Shunji Karube 48.96 6 4 Gary Jennings 50.41 7 2 Inigo Monreal 52.23 8 5 Ivan Wakit 53.42

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 3 Derrick Adkins 47.76 2 1 Sven Nylander 48.21 3 2 Fabrizio Mori 48.43 4 6 Eronilde de Araujo 48.45 5 8 Dusan Kovacs 48.57 6 7 Ken Harnden 48.61 7 4 Jon Ridgeon 49.43 8 5 Bryan Bronson 50.32

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 3 Calvin Davis 47.91 2 4 Everson Teixeira 48.28 3 6 Samuel Matete 48.28 4 7 Rohan Robinson 48.28 5 1 Neil Gardner 48.30 6 2 Laurent Ottoz 48.52 7 5 Ibou Faye 48.84 8 8 Marc Dollendorf 48.91

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time 6 Derrick Adkins 47.54 1 Samuel Matete 47.78 5 Calvin Davis 47.96 4 4 Sven Nylander 47.98 5 8 Rohan Robinson 48.30 6 7 Fabrizio Mori 48.41 7 3 Everson Teixeira 48.57 8 2 Eronilde de Araujo 48.78

Results summary

Rank Athlete Nation Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Derrick Adkins 48.46 47.76 47.54 Samuel Matete 48.21 48.28 47.78 Calvin Davis 48.94 47.91 47.96 4 Sven Nylander 49.54 48.21 47.98 5 Rohan Robinson 48.89 48.28 48.30 6 Fabrizio Mori 48.90 48.43 48.41 7 Everson Teixeira 48.52 48.28 48.57 8 Eronilde de Araujo 48.52 48.45 48.78 9 Neil Gardner 48.59 48.30 Did not advance 10 Laurent Ottoz 48.92 48.52 11 Dusan Kovacs 49.23 48.57 12 Ken Harnden 48.54 48.61 13 Ibou Faye 48.84 48.84 14 Marc Dollendorf 49.49 48.91 15 Jon Ridgeon 49.31 49.43 16 Bryan Bronson 49.06 50.32 17 Shunji Karube 48.96 Did not advance 18 Erick Keter 49.03 19 Kazuhiko Yamazaki 49.07 20 Carlos Silva 49.09 21 Dinsdale Morgan 49.16 22 Mubarak Faraj 49.27 23 Kehinde Aladefa 49.60 24 Pawel Januszewski 49.63 25 Miro Kocuvan 49.66 26 Jean-Paul Bruwier 49.69 27 Ashraf Saber 49.71 28 Vadim Zadoynov 49.73 29 Gideon Biwott 49.74 30 Peter Crampton 49.78 31 Barnabas Kinyor 49.82 32 Hideaki Kawamura 49.88 33 Gilbert Hashan 49.94 Hadi Somayli 49.94 Ruslan Mashchenko 49.94 36 Mugur Mateescu 49.97 37 Julius Masvanise 50.16 38 Hamadou Mbaye 50.30 39 Jozef Kucej 50.31 40 Gary Jennings 50.41 41 Salvador Vila 50.55 42 Egīls Tēbelis 50.73 43 Tom McGuirk 50.76 44 Amadou Sy Savane 50.90 45 Llewellyn Herbert 51.13 46 Domingo Cordero 51.20 Marcel Schelbert 51.20 48 Cleverson Silva 51.23 49 Óscar Pitillas 51.35 50 Simon Hollingsworth 52.16 51 Inigo Monreal 52.23 52 Ivan Wakit 53.42 53 Lancelot Gittens 54.79 54 Curt Young 55.20 55 Winthrop Graham

See also 1993 Men's World Championships 400m Hurdles (Stuttgart) 1994 Men's European Championships 400m Hurdles (Helsinki) 1995 Men's World Championships 400m Hurdles (Gothenburg) 1997 Men's World Championships 400m Hurdles (Athens) 1998 Men's European Championships 400m Hurdles (Budapest) 1999 Men's World Championships 400m Hurdles (Seville)

References

External links Official Report Results