Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 18–21 August at the Beijing National Stadium.[1]

Men's 400 metres
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Crossing the finish line
VenueBeijing National Stadium
Dates18 August
21 August (final)
Competitors56 from 40 nations
Medalists
LaShawn Merritt  United States
Jeremy Wariner  United States
David Neville  United States
Athletics at the
2008 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
800 mmenwomen
1500 mmenwomen
5000 mmenwomen
10,000 mmenwomen
100 m hurdleswomen
110 m hurdlesmen
400 m hurdlesmenwomen
3000 m
steeplechase		menwomen
4 × 100 m relaymenwomen
4 × 400 m relaymenwomen
Road events
Marathonmenwomen
20 km walkmenwomen
50 km walkmen
Field events
Long jumpmenwomen
Triple jumpmenwomen
High jumpmenwomen
Pole vaultmenwomen
Shot putmenwomen
Discus throwmenwomen
Javelin throwmenwomen
Hammer throwmenwomen
Combined events
Heptathlonwomen
Decathlonmen

The defending champion was Jeremy Wariner, who also won World Championship titles in 2005 and 2007 preceding the 2008 Olympics. Wariner made headlines earlier in the season when he dropped long time coach Clyde Hart, in favor of Hart's assistant Michael Ford. All season, Wariner did not show the dominance of the previous three seasons.[2] At the Olympic Trials he was runner up to LaShawn Merritt, the World Championship silver medalist. The semi-finals showed the same two in the same position, Merritt .03 faster than Wariner.[3]

Wariner started fast in the final: running in lane 7, he caught up with Martyn Rooney to his outside making up the stagger before the 200 mark. Further outside but more difficult to calculate, David Neville was also out fast, while Merritt was even relative to the stagger against Chris Brown in lanes 4 and 5. Around the final turn Merritt separated from the others and the three Americans were ahead, with Neville in first as the turn was ending. Once they hit the straightaway, it was Merritt who had the speed, sprinting away with a high knee action that increased his gap over Wariner and Neville. Wariner had no answer, Neville looked depleted, while Brown was steadily gaining. Merritt sped away to a personal best 43.75, Wariner gave up the chase and jogged across the finish line in second, barely ahead of Brown, who looked like he had passed Neville. In the last two steps, Neville leant forward and fell right at the finish line, his hands technically crossing the line ahead of Wariner. But it is the torso that counts and Neville's body crossed the line in third, .04 ahead of Brown and .06 behind Wariner. Merritt had gained just shy of a full second on Wariner over the last 90 metres for the win. Neville completed an American sweep of the event.[4][5]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

World record Michael Johnson (United States)43.18 sSeville, Spain26 August 1999
Olympic record Michael Johnson (USA)43.49 sAtlanta, United States29 July 1996

No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

Qualification

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was able to enter up to three entrants providing they had met the A qualifying standard (45.55) in the qualifying period (1 January 2007 to 23 July 2008). NOCs were also permitted to enter one athlete providing he had met the B standard (45.95) in the same qualifying period.[6]

Results

Round 1

The first round was held on 18 August. The first three runners of each heat (Q) plus the next three overall fastest runners (q) qualified for the semifinals.

Heat 1
RankLaneAthleteNationalityTimeNotesReact
1 4 Leslie Djhone France 45.12 Q 0.190
2 5 David Neville United States 45.22 Q 0.189
3 6 William Collazo Cuba 45.37 Q, SB 0.180
4 8 Kévin Borlée Belgium 45.43 q 0.149
DSQ[7] 9 Denis Alekseyev Russia 45.52 0.299
6 3 Young Talkmore Nyongani Zimbabwe 45.89 0.249
7 7 Eric Milazar Mauritius 46.06 0.209
8 2 Gakologelwang Masheto Botswana 46.29 SB 0.183

Heat 2
RankLaneAthleteNationalityTimeNotesReact
1 6 Chris Brown Bahamas 44.79 Q 0.205
2 7 Joel Milburn Australia 44.80 Q, PB 0.155
3 4 Johan Wissman Sweden 44.81 Q, SB 0.229
4 5 Gary Kikaya Democratic Republic of the Congo 44.89 q, SB 0.184
5 8 Sanjay Ayre Jamaica 45.66 0.177
6 9 Arismendy Peguero Dominican Republic 46.28 0.236
7 3 Ivano Bucci San Marino 48.54 SB 0.209
8 2 Liu Xiaosheng China 53.11 0.245

Heat 3
RankLaneAthleteNationalityTimeNotesReact
1 8 Nery Brenes Costa Rica 45.36 Q 0.196
2 3 James Godday Nigeria 45.49 Q 0.200
3 9 Andretti Bain Bahamas 45.96 Q 0.225
4 7 Niko Verekauta Fiji 46.32 SB 0.161
5 6 Fernando de Almeida Brazil 46.60 0.158
6 2 Lewis Banda Zimbabwe 46.76 0.244
7 4 Vincent Mumo Kiilu Kenya 46.79 0.212
8 5 Nagmeldin Ali Abubakr Sudan 47.12 0.247

Heat 4
RankLaneAthleteNationalityTimeNotesReact
1 7 Martyn Rooney Great Britain 45.00 Q 0.207
2 8 Sean Wroe Australia 45.17 Q, PB 0.182
3 5 Ricardo Chambers Jamaica 45.22 Q 0.211
4 3 Erison Hurtault Dominica 46.10 0.246
5 9 Andrés Silva Uruguay 46.34 0.265
6 2 Rudolf Götz Czech Republic 46.38 0.157
7 6 Yuzo Kanemaru Japan 46.39 0.225
4 California Molefe Botswana DNS

Heat 5
RankLaneAthleteNationalityTimeNotesReact
1 2 LaShawn Merritt United States 44.96 Q 0.214
2 7 Saul Weigopwa Nigeria 45.19 Q 0.172
3 8 Claudio Licciardello Italy 45.25 Q, PB 0.186
4 3 Jonathan Borlée Belgium 45.25 q, PB 0.225
5 6 Ato Modibo Trinidad and Tobago 45.63 0.195
6 9 Alleyne Francique Grenada 46.15 0.215
7 5 Geiner Mosquera Colombia 46.59 0.268
8 4 Siraj Williams Liberia 47.89 0.288

Heat 6
RankLaneAthleteNationalityTimeNotesReact
1 7 Andrew Steele Great Britain 44.94 Q, PB 0.248
2 5 Renny Quow Trinidad and Tobago 45.13 Q 0.266
3 6 Michael Mathieu Bahamas 45.17 Q, PB 0.193
4 8 Michael Blackwood Jamaica 45.56 0.204
5 2 Tyler Christopher Canada 45.67 0.172
6 3 Joel Phillip Grenada 46.30 0.198
7 9 Félix Martínez Puerto Rico 46.46 0.347
8 4 Daniel Dąbrowski Poland 47.83 0.260

Heat 7
RankLaneAthleteNationalityTimeNotesReact
1 9 Jeremy Wariner United States 45.23 Q 0.253
2 6 Tabarie Henry Virgin Islands 45.36 Q, NR 0.165
3 2 Cedric van Branteghem Belgium 45.54 Q 0.203
4 4 David Gillick Ireland 45.83 0.275
5 5 Maksim Dyldin Russia 46.03 0.194
6 3 Myhaylo Knysh Ukraine 46.28 0.260
7 7 Mathieu Gnanligo Benin 47.10 0.207
8 8 Naiel Santiago d'Almeida São Tomé and Príncipe 49.08 0.178

Semifinals

Semifinal 1
19 August 2008 - 21:45
RankLaneAthleteNationalityTimeNotesReact
1 6 Jeremy Wariner United States 44.15 Q 0.224
2 5 Chris Brown Bahamas 44.59 Q 0.244
3 6 Kévin Borlée Belgium 44.88 NR 0.162
4 7 Nery Brenes Costa Rica 44.94 NR 0.169
5 4 Saul Weigopwa Nigeria 45.02 SB 0.168
6 2 William Collazo Cuba 45.06 PB 0.191
7 8 Tabarie Henry Virgin Islands 45.19 NR 0.165
8 2 Claudio Licciardello Italy 45.64 0.259

Semifinal 2
19 August 2008 - 21:52
RankLaneAthleteNationalityTimeNotesReact
1 6 Leslie Djhone France 44.79 Q, SB 0.159
2 4 David Neville United States 44.91 Q 0.190
3 5 Joel Milburn Australia 45.06 0.187
4 9 Ricardo Chambers Jamaica 45.09 0.220
5 3 Jonathan Borlée Belgium 45.11 PB 0.191
6 8 James Godday Nigeria 45.24 0.185
7 2 Andretti Bain Bahamas 45.52 0.196
8 7 Andrew Steele Great Britain 45.59 0.216

Semifinal 3
19 August 2008 - 21:59
RankLaneAthleteNationalityTimeNotesReact
1 7 LaShawn Merritt United States 44.12 Q 0.187
2 6 Martyn Rooney Great Britain 44.60 Q, PB 0.126
3 8 Johan Wissman Sweden 44.64 q, SB 0.211
4 5 Renny Quow Trinidad and Tobago 44.82 q, PB 0.204
5 2 Gary Kikaya Democratic Republic of the Congo 44.94 0.187
6 9 Michael Mathieu Bahamas 45.56 0.203
7 4 Sean Wroe Australia 45.56 0.205
8 3 Cedric van Branteghem Belgium 45.81 0.199

Final
LaShawn Merritt won by a margin of almost a second.
RankLaneAthleteNationalityTimeReaction
time		Notes
4LaShawn Merritt United States43.750.318PB
7Jeremy Wariner United States44.740.209
9David Neville United States44.800.293
45Chris Brown Bahamas44.840.231
56Leslie Djhone France45.110.164
68Martyn Rooney Great Britain45.120.208
72Renny Quow Trinidad and Tobago45.220.201
83Johan Wissman Sweden45.390.218

References
  1. "Olympic Athletics Competition Schedule". IAAF. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  2. Hersh, Philip (2008-07-01). Wariner's, coach's stories don't match. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2016-07-16.
  3. Wenig, Jörg (2008-09-13). Merritt vs. Wariner 2008 – final score: Merritt 4, Wariner 3. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-16.
  4. Ramsak, Bob (2008-08-21). Men's 400m - FINAL Archived 2016-08-08 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-16.
  5. Ramsak, Bob (2008-08-21). Men's 400m - FINAL Archived 2016-08-08 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-16.
  6. "Entry Standards - The XXIX Olympic Games - Beijing, China - 8/24 August 2008". IAAF. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  7. https://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-sanctions-four-athletes-for-failing-anti-doping-tests-at-beijing-2008-and-london-2012-1
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