The men's 400 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 20 to 23. Sixty-two athletes from 48 nations competed. The event was won by Jeremy Wariner 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, and Derrick Brew 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. 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, Otis Harris, and Derrick Brew was strong, even without two-time defending champion Michael Johnson, who had retired. Their top competition was Alleyne Francique 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 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 record, Olympic record, and world leading time (in seconds) prior to the 2004 Summer Olympics.

No world or Olympic records were set in this event.

The following national records were established during the competition:

Nation Athlete Round Time K. M. Binu Heat 5 45.48

Schedule

Since 1984, all rounds have been held on separate days.

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3) Date Time RoundFriday, 20 August 2004 21:10 Round 1Saturday, 21 August 2004 21:15 SemifinalsMonday, 23 August 2004 21:05 Final

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

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes12 Alleyne Francique 45.32 25 Davian Clarke 45.54 34 Marcus La Grange 45.9543 Piotr Klimczak 46.2356 Jun Osakada 46.3967 Lloyd Zvasiya 47.1971 David Canal 47.2388 Danilson Ricciuli 49.27

Heat 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes11 Chris Brown 45.09 , 26 Otis Harris 45.11 35 Eric Milazar 45.34 48 Casey Vincent 46.0952 Vincent Mumo Kiilu 46.3167 Andrés Silva 46.4874 Stilianos Dimotsios 46.51SB83 Abdulla Mohamed Hussein 51.52

Heat 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes14 Anton Galkin 45.43 22 Yeimer López 45.44 31 Alejandro Cárdenas 45.46 45 Gary Kikaya 45.57 53 Ato Modibo 46.2967 Mitsuhiro Sato 46.7078 Takeshi Fujiwara 48.4686 Youba Hmeida 49.18

Heat 4 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes16 Derrick Brew 45.41 22 Brandon Simpson 45.61 37 Sofiane Labidi 46.0445 Daniel Caines 46.1554 Rohan Pradeep Kumara 46.2063 Evans Marie 48.23 — 8 Lezin Ngoyikonda

Heat 5 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes18 Carlos Santa 45.31 25 Lewis Banda 45.37 33 K. Mathews Binu 45.48 , NR46 Cédric van Branteghem 45.70 51 California Molefe 45.8862 Chris Lloyd 47.9874 Fawzi Al-Shammari 48.2587 Saeed Al-Adhreai 49.39

Heat 6 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes18 Jeremy Wariner 45.56 25 Ingo Schultz 45.88 31 Young Talkmore Nyongani 46.0344 Zsolt Szeglet 46.1656 Malachi Davis 46.2867 Oleg Mishukov 46.4173 Dadi Denis 47.57 — 2 Victor Kibet

Heat 7 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes18 Michael Blackwood 45.23 27 Hamdan Al-Bishi 45.31 36 Saul Weigopwa 45.59 45 Matija Šestak 45.88 53 Yuki Yamaguchi 46.1661 Nagmeldin Ali Abubakr 46.3272 Muhammad Sajid Ahmad 47.45 84 Moses Kamut 48.14

Heat 8 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes14 Leslie Djhone 45.40 22 Ezra Sambu 45.59 33 Timothy Benjamin 45.69 45 Clinton Hill 45.8956 Adem Hecini 46.5067 Luis Luna 47.9271 Jonnie Lowe 48.0688 Anderson Jorge dos Santos 48.77

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 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes13 Jeremy Wariner 44.87 25 Michael Blackwood 45.00 36 Leslie Djhone 45.01 44 Lewis Banda 45.2352 Eric Milazar 45.2368 Gary Kikaya 45.5871 Ezra Sambu 45.8487 Cédric van Branteghem 46.03

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes14 Derrick Brew 45.05 28 Davian Clarke 45.27 35 Chris Brown 45.3146 Yeimer López 45.5257 Alejandro Cárdenas 45.6462 K. Mathews Binu 45.9771 Matija Šestak 46.54 — 3 Anton Galkin 45.34

Semifinal 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes18 Brandon Simpson 44.97 25 Otis Harris 44.99 36 Alleyne Francique 45.08 44 Carlos Santa 45.5853 Hamdan Al-Bishi 45.5962 Saul Weigopwa 45.6771 Ingo Schultz 46.2387 Timothy Benjamin 46.28

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes4 Jeremy Wariner 44.00 5 Otis Harris 44.16 3 Derrick Brew 44.42 48 Alleyne Francique 44.6656 Brandon Simpson 44.76 67 Davian Clarke 44.83 72 Leslie Djhone 44.9481 Michael Blackwood 45.55

References

External links IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage