The women's 400 metres hurdles competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 5–8 August.

Summary The opening round went largely to form, except 2012 world #7 Vania Stambolova took herself out crashing the first hurdle. Vera Barbosa set the national record for Portugal in advancing.

The first semi final loaded up Natalya Antyukh and Zuzana Hejnová who pushed each other to the finish and the top two qualifying times, plus taking T'erea Brown to the top time qualifier. In the second semi Lashinda Demus had a clear lead, slowing on the way home to just exert enough effort to finish first. The final semi was the slowest led by Muizat Ajoke Odumosu's Nigerian national record, Georganne Moline and Denisa Rosolova battled for second, with Rosolova taking the other time qualifier in the process.

In the final, Demus was first over the first two hurdles, then Antyukh steadily built her lead to a full stride at hurdle 9, with Demus the closest challenger. Antyukh stuttered the tenth hurdle, opening the door for Demus to chase her to the finish line, but Antyukh held on for gold, Demus disappointed with silver and Hejnová clearly in the bronze medal position.

Antyukh's time brought her to the number 6 athlete of all time, defeating Demus who already held number 3.

In 2020, Antyukh was among four Russian track and field athletes charged with doping offences, facing charges of using a prohibited substance or method. The Athletics Integrity Unit said the cases were based on an investigation into Russian doping for the World Anti-Doping Agency presented in 2016 by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren.Two Olympic champions among four Russians with new doping charges from Associated Press, via Sky Sports. Her ban was confirmed on 7 April 2021 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport when she was banned from athletics for 4 years with all her results from 30 June 2013 onwards disqualified. Initially, her Olympic gold was not in danger.CAS Media Release (tas-cas.org) However, in October 2022, over 10 years and two months after the medals were awarded, her results from July 2012 to June 2013 were disqualified for a doping violation, stripping her of the gold medal. American silver medalist Lashinda Demus could potentially receive the gold medal, which was pending reallocation by the International Olympic Committee as of 24 October 2022."Lashinda Demus in line for 2012 Olympics gold after Russian DQ'd". ESPN. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2022. On 21 December 2022, World Athletics upgraded Demus to first place, while the IOC had not yet done so.

Competition format The women's 400 m hurdles competition consisted of heats (Round 1), semifinals and a final. The fastest competitors from each race in the heats qualified for the semifinals along with the fastest overall competitors not already qualified that were required to fill the available spaces in the semifinals. 24 competitors qualified from the heats for the semifinals. A total of eight competitors qualified for the final from the semifinals.

Records , the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows:

Schedule All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1) Date Time RoundSunday, 5 August 2012 19:00 Round 1Monday, 6 August 2012 20:15 SemifinalsWednesday, 8 August 2012 20:45 Finals

Results

Heats

Qual. rule: first 4 of each heat (Q) plus the 4 fastest times (q) qualified.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Zuzana Hejnová 53.96 Q, SB 2 T'erea Brown 54.72 Q, PB 3 Eilidh Child 56.14 Q 4 Sarah Wells 56.47 Q 5 Eglė Staišiūnaitė 57.79 6 Tatyana Azarova 58.53 7 Maureen Jelagat Maiyo 1:02.16 Vania Stambolova

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Kaliese Spencer 54.02 Q 2 Muizat Ajoke Odumosu 54.93 Q 3 Anna Jesień 55.44 Q, SB 4 Lauren Boden 56.27 q 5 Raasin McIntosh 57.39 6 Natalya Asanova 58.05 7 Noraseela Mohd Khalid 1:00.16 - Natalya Antyukh DQ (53.90) Doping Ghfran Almouhamad (58.09) Doping Ghfran Almouhamad originally finished in eighth place with a time of 58.09, but was later disqualified for testing positive for methylhexaneamine. Raasin McIntosh was originally disqualified for unknown reasons. It was later overturned.

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Lashinda Demus 54.60 Q 2 Hanna Titimets 55.08 Q 3 Vera Barbosa 55.22 Q, NR 4 Elena Churakova 55.26 Q 5 Denisa Rosolová 55.42 q 6 Sara Petersen 56.01 q 7 Lucy Jaramillo 57.74 8 Princesa Oliveros 58.95

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Georganne Moline 54.31 Q, PB 2 Nickiesha Wilson 55.53 Q 3 Irina Davydova 55.55 Q 4 Elodie Ouédraogo 55.89 Q 5 Angela Moroșanu 56.64 6 Sharolyn Scott 57.03 7 Janeil Bellille 57.27 8 Nikolina Horvat 58.49 Nagihan Karadere R 162.7False start Nagihan Karadere was disqualified for false starting.

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Perri Shakes-Drayton 54.62 Q 2 Melaine Walker 54.78 Q 3 Hanna Yaroshchuk 54.81 Q 4 Hayat Lambarki 55.58 Q 5 Satomi Kubokura 55.85 q, SB 6 Huang Xiaoxiao 56.29 7 Déborah Rodríguez 57.04 NR 8 Jailma de Lima 57.05 9 Christine Sonali Merrill 57.15 SB

Semifinals Qual. rule: first 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) qualified.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Zuzana Hejnová 53.62 Q, 2 T'erea Brown 54.21 q, 3 Elodie Ouedraogo 55.20 4 Nickiesha Wilson 55.77 5 Hayat Lambarki 56.18 6 Vera Barbosa 56.27 7 Lauren Boden 56.66 - Natalya Antyukh DQ (53.30) Doping Lauren Boden was originally disqualified for unknown reasons, but it was later overturned.

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Lashinda Demus 54.08 Q 2 Kaliese Spencer 54.20 Q 3 Perri Shakes-Drayton 55.19 4 Hanna Yaroshchuk 55.51 5 Irina Davydova 55.86 6 Sara Petersen 56.21 7 Anna Jesień 56.28 8 Sarah Wells 56.71

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Muizat Ajoke Odumosu 54.40 Q, NR 2 Georganne Moline 54.74 Q 3 Denisa Rosolová 54.87 q 4 Hanna Titimets 55.10 5 Elena Churakova 55.70 6 Melaine Walker 55.74 7 Eilidh Child 56.03 8 Satomi Kubokura 56.25 Denisa Rosolová and Hanna Titimets were originally disqualified for unknown reasons, but they were overturned. Denisa Rosolová therefore qualified for the final.

Final Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 7 Lashinda Demus 52.77 WL 4 Zuzana Hejnová 53.38 9 Kaliese Spencer 53.66 4 8 Georganne Moline 53.92 5 2 T'erea Brown 55.07 6 3 Denisa Rosolová 55.27 7 6 Muizat Ajoke Odumosu 55.31 5 Natalya Antyukh DQ (52.70) Doping Perri Shakes-Drayton originally qualified for the final, but she was later taken out after Denisa Rosolová's disqualification was overturned.

References