Jump to content

400 metres hurdles at the Olympics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
400 metres hurdles
at the Olympic Games
The 2012 Olympic men's 400 m hurdles semi-final
Overview
SportAthletics
GenderMen and women
Years heldMen: 19001908, 19202024
Women: 19842024
Olympic record
Men45.94 Karsten Warholm (2021)
Women50.37 Sydney McLaughlin (2024)
Reigning champion
Men Rai Benjamin (USA)
Women Sydney McLaughlin (USA)

The 400 metres hurdles at the Summer Olympics is the longest hurdling event held at the multi-sport event. The men's 400 m hurdles has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900, with a sole gap at the 1912 Summer Olympics. The women's event was added to the programme over eighty years later, at the 1984 Olympics. It is the most prestigious 400 m hurdles race at elite level.

The Olympic records for the event are 45.94 seconds for men, set by Karsten Warholm in 2021, and 50.37 seconds for women, set by Sydney McLaughlin in 2024. The men's world record has been broken at the Olympics on eight occasions: 1908 (the first official IAAF record), 1920, 1932, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1992, and 2021. The women's world record had never been broken in Olympic competition prior to 2021.[1]

Edwin Moses is the most successful athlete in the event, having won two gold and one bronze medal. Glenn Davis, Angelo Taylor and Felix Sanchez have also won two Olympic 400 m hurdles titles. Morgan Taylor is the only other athlete beside Moses that has won three medals in the event. Deon Hemmings was the most successful woman, with her 1996 gold and 2000 silver medals, and was the first female athlete to win multiple medals, until Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won gold in 2021 in Tokyo and 2024 in Paris. It is relatively common for 400 m hurdles athletes to also be part of their nation's team for the 4×400 metres relay at the Olympics.

The United States is the most successful nation in the men's event. American men have swept the medals on five occasions. The American women have the highest medal total, with nine, but the nation managed to achieve its first victory only in 2016, when Dalilah Muhammad won the event. Russia and Jamaica are the only nations to win multiple women's gold medals, with two each. Great Britain is the first nation to have won a gold medal in both the men's and women's event, having three champions in total. In 2016, the United States became the second.

Medal summary

[edit]

Men

[edit]
Games Gold Silver Bronze
1900 Paris
details
Walter Tewksbury
 United States
Henri Tauzin
 France
George Orton
 Canada
1904 St. Louis
details
Harry Hillman
 United States
Frank Waller
 United States
George Poage
 United States
1908 London
details
Charles Bacon
 United States
Harry Hillman
 United States
Jimmy Tremeer
 Great Britain
1912 Stockholm not included in the Olympic program
1920 Antwerp
details
Frank Loomis
 United States
John Norton
 United States
August Desch
 United States
1924 Paris
details
Morgan Taylor
 United States
Erik Wilén
 Finland
Ivan Riley
 United States
1928 Amsterdam
details
David Burghley
 Great Britain
Frank Cuhel
 United States
Morgan Taylor
 United States
1932 Los Angeles
details
Bob Tisdall
 Ireland
Glenn Hardin
 United States
Morgan Taylor
 United States
1936 Berlin
details
Glenn Hardin
 United States
John Loaring
 Canada
Miguel White
 Philippines
1948 London
details
Roy Cochran
 United States
Duncan White
 Ceylon
Rune Larsson
 Sweden
1952 Helsinki
details
Charles Moore
 United States
Yuriy Lituyev
 Soviet Union
John Holland
 New Zealand
1956 Melbourne
details
Glenn Davis
 United States
Eddie Southern
 United States
Josh Culbreath
 United States
1960 Rome
details
Glenn Davis
 United States
Clifton Cushman
 United States
Dick Howard
 United States
1964 Tokyo
details
Rex Cawley
 United States
John Cooper
 Great Britain
Salvatore Morale
 Italy
1968 Mexico City
details
David Hemery
 Great Britain
Gerhard Hennige
 West Germany
John Sherwood
 Great Britain
1972 Munich
details
John Akii-Bua
 Uganda
Ralph Mann
 United States
David Hemery
 Great Britain
1976 Montreal
details
Edwin Moses
 United States
Michael Shine
 United States
Yevgeniy Gavrilenko
 Soviet Union
1980 Moscow
details
Volker Beck
 East Germany
Vasyl Arkhypenko
 Soviet Union
Gary Oakes
 Great Britain
1984 Los Angeles
details
Edwin Moses
 United States
Danny Harris
 United States
Harald Schmid
 West Germany
1988 Seoul
details
André Phillips
 United States
Amadou Dia Ba
 Senegal
Edwin Moses
 United States
1992 Barcelona
details
Kevin Young
 United States
Winthrop Graham
 Jamaica
Kriss Akabusi
 Great Britain
1996 Atlanta
details
Derrick Adkins
 United States
Samuel Matete
 Zambia
Calvin Davis
 United States
2000 Sydney
details
Angelo Taylor
 United States
Hadi Al-Somaily
 Saudi Arabia
Llewellyn Herbert
 South Africa
2004 Athens
details
Félix Sánchez
 Dominican Republic
Danny McFarlane
 Jamaica
Naman Keïta
 France
2008 Beijing
details
Angelo Taylor
 United States
Kerron Clement
 United States
Bershawn Jackson
 United States
2012 London
details
Félix Sánchez
 Dominican Republic
Michael Tinsley
 United States
Javier Culson
 Puerto Rico
2016 Rio de Janeiro
details
Kerron Clement
 United States
Boniface Mucheru Tumuti
 Kenya
Yasmani Copello
 Turkey
2020 Tokyo
details
Karsten Warholm
 Norway
Rai Benjamin
 United States
Alison dos Santos
 Brazil
2024 Paris
details
Rai Benjamin
 United States
Karsten Warholm
 Norway
Alison dos Santos
 Brazil

Multiple medalists

[edit]
Rank Athlete Nation Olympics Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Edwin Moses  United States (USA) 1976–1988 2 0 1 3
2 Glenn Davis  United States (USA) 1956–1960 2 0 0 2
Angelo Taylor  United States (USA) 2000–2008 2 0 0 2
Félix Sánchez  Dominican Republic (DOM) 2004–2012 2 0 0 2
5 Harry Hillman  United States (USA) 1904–1908 1 1 0 2
Glenn Hardin  United States (USA) 1932–1936 1 1 0 2
Kerron Clement  United States (USA) 2008, 2016 1 1 0 2
8 Morgan Taylor  United States (USA) 1924–1932 1 0 2 3
9 David Hemery  Great Britain (GBR) 1968–1972 1 0 1 2

Medals by country

[edit]
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1  United States (USA) 19 13 10 42
2  Great Britain (GBR) 2 1 5 8
3  Dominican Republic (DOM) 2 0 0 2
4  East Germany (GDR) 1 0 0 1
 Ireland (IRL) 1 0 0 1
 Norway (NOR) 1 0 0 1
 Uganda (UGA) 1 0 0 1
8  Soviet Union (URS) 0 2 1 3
9  Jamaica (JAM) 0 2 0 2
10  Canada (CAN) 0 1 1 2
 France (FRA) 0 1 1 2
 West Germany (FRG) 0 1 1 2
13  Ceylon (CEY) 0 1 0 1
 Finland (FIN) 0 1 0 1
 Kenya (KEN) 0 1 0 1
 Saudi Arabia (KSA) 0 1 0 1
 Senegal (SEN) 0 1 0 1
 Zambia (ZAM) 0 1 0 1
19  Brazil (BRA) 0 0 1 1
 Italy (ITA) 0 0 1 1
 New Zealand (NZL) 0 0 1 1
 Philippines (PHI) 0 0 1 1
 Puerto Rico (PUR) 0 0 1 1
 South Africa (RSA) 0 0 1 1
 Sweden (SWE) 0 0 1 1
 Turkey (TUR) 0 0 1 1

Women

[edit]
Games Gold Silver Bronze
1984 Los Angeles
details
Nawal El Moutawakel
 Morocco
Judi Brown
 United States
Cristieana Cojocaru
 Romania
1988 Seoul
details
Debbie Flintoff-King
 Australia
Tatyana Ledovskaya
 Soviet Union
Ellen Fiedler
 East Germany
1992 Barcelona
details
Sally Gunnell
 Great Britain
Sandra Farmer-Patrick
 United States
Janeene Vickers
 United States
1996 Atlanta
details
Deon Hemmings
 Jamaica
Kim Batten
 United States
Tonja Buford-Bailey
 United States
2000 Sydney
details
Irina Privalova
 Russia
Deon Hemmings
 Jamaica
Nezha Bidouane
 Morocco
2004 Athens
details
Fani Halkia
 Greece
Ionela Târlea-Manolache
 Romania
Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova
 Ukraine
2008 Beijing
details
Melaine Walker
 Jamaica
Sheena Tosta
 United States
Tasha Danvers
 Great Britain
2012 London
details
Lashinda Demus
 United States
Zuzana Hejnová
 Czech Republic
Kaliese Spencer
 Jamaica
2016 Rio de Janeiro
details
Dalilah Muhammad
 United States
Sara Petersen
 Denmark
Ashley Spencer
 United States
2020 Tokyo
details
Sydney McLaughlin
 United States
Dalilah Muhammad
 United States
Femke Bol
 Netherlands
2024 Paris
details
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
 United States
Anna Cockrell
 United States
Femke Bol
 Netherlands

Multiple medalists

[edit]
Rank Athlete Nation Olympics Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone  United States (USA) 2020–2024 2 0 0 2
2 Deon Hemmings  Jamaica (JAM) 1996–2000 1 1 0 2
3 Dalilah Muhammad  United States (USA) 2016–2020 1 1 0 2
4 Femke Bol  Netherlands (NED) 2020–2024 0 0 2 2

Medalists by country

[edit]
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1  United States (USA) 4 6 3 13
2  Jamaica (JAM) 2 1 1 4
3=  Great Britain (GBR) 1 0 1 2
3=  Morocco (MAR) 1 0 1 2
5=  Australia (AUS) 1 0 0 1
5=  Greece (GRE) 1 0 0 1
5=  Russia (RUS) 1 0 0 1
8  Romania (ROU) 0 1 1 2
9=  Czech Republic (CZE) 0 1 0 1
9=  Denmark (DEN) 0 1 0 1
9=  Soviet Union (URS) 0 1 0 1
12=  East Germany (GDR) 0 0 1 1
12=  Ukraine (UKR) 0 0 1 1
12=  Netherlands (NED) 0 0 1 1

Finishing times

[edit]

The 2024 women's final was the fastest women's 400-meter hurdles race in Olympic history collectively: five of the eight women ran under 52.7 seconds, with these times ranking among the top 11 in Olympic history.[2]

Top ten fastest Olympic times

[edit]
  • SF - Semi-Finals

References

[edit]
Participation and athlete data
Olympic record progressions
Specific
  1. ^ "12th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Berlin 2009" (PDF). Monte Carlo: IAAF Media & Public Relations Department. 2009. pp. Pages 546, 554, 664. Archived from the original (pdf) on June 29, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Women's 400m Hurdles".
  3. ^ "Men's 400m Hurdles".
[edit]