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.
Heat 1
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||2||align=left| Alleyne Francique || align=left| ||45.32||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||5||align=left| Davian Clarke || align=left| ||45.54||
|-
|3||4||align=left| Marcus La Grange || align=left| ||45.95||
|-
|4||3||align=left| Piotr Klimczak || align=left| ||46.23||
|-
|5||6||align=left| Jun Osakada || align=left| ||46.39||
|-
|6||7||align=left| Lloyd Zvasiya || align=left| ||47.19||
|-
|7||1||align=left| David Canal || align=left| ||47.23||
|-
|8||8||align=left| Danilson Ricciuli || align=left| ||49.27||
|}
Heat 2
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||1||align=left| Chris Brown || align=left| ||45.09|| ,
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||6||align=left| Otis Harris || align=left| ||45.11||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|3||5||align=left| Eric Milazar || align=left| ||45.34||
|-
|4||8||align=left| Casey Vincent || align=left| ||46.09||
|-
|5||2||align=left| Vincent Mumo Kiilu || align=left| ||46.31||
|-
|6||7||align=left| Andrés Silva || align=left| ||46.48||
|-
|7||4||align=left| Stilianos Dimotsios || align=left| ||46.51||SB
|-
|8||3||align=left| Abdulla Mohamed Hussein || align=left| ||51.52||
|}
Heat 3
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||4||align=left| Anton Galkin || align=left| ||45.43||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||2||align=left| Yeimer López || align=left| ||45.44||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|3||1||align=left| Alejandro Cárdenas || align=left| ||45.46||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|4||5||align=left| Gary Kikaya || align=left| ||45.57||
|-
|5||3||align=left| Ato Modibo || align=left| ||46.29||
|-
|6||7||align=left| Mitsuhiro Sato || align=left| ||46.70||
|-
|7||8||align=left| Takeshi Fujiwara || align=left| ||48.46||
|-
|8||6||align=left| Youba Hmeida || align=left| ||49.18||
|}
Heat 4
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||6||align=left| Derrick Brew || align=left| ||45.41||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||2||align=left| Brandon Simpson || align=left| ||45.61||
|-
|3||7||align=left| Sofiane Labidi || align=left| ||46.04||
|-
|4||5||align=left| Daniel Caines || align=left| ||46.15||
|-
|5||4||align=left| Rohan Pradeep Kumara || align=left| ||46.20||
|-
|6||3||align=left| Evans Marie || align=left| ||48.23||
|-
|data-sort-value=7| — ||8||align=left| Lezin Ngoyikonda || align=left| ||||
|}
Heat 5
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||8||align=left| Carlos Santa || align=left| ||45.31||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||5||align=left| Lewis Banda || align=left| ||45.37||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|3||3||align=left| K. Mathews Binu || align=left| ||45.48|| , NR
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|4||6||align=left| Cédric van Branteghem || align=left| ||45.70||
|-
|5||1||align=left| California Molefe || align=left| ||45.88||
|-
|6||2||align=left| Chris Lloyd || align=left| ||47.98||
|-
|7||4||align=left| Fawzi Al-Shammari || align=left| ||48.25||
|-
|8||7||align=left| Saeed Al-Adhreai || align=left| ||49.39||
|}
Heat 6
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||8||align=left| Jeremy Wariner || align=left| ||45.56||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||5||align=left| Ingo Schultz || align=left| ||45.88||
|-
|3||1||align=left| Young Talkmore Nyongani || align=left| ||46.03||
|-
|4||4||align=left| Zsolt Szeglet || align=left| ||46.16||
|-
|5||6||align=left| Malachi Davis || align=left| ||46.28||
|-
|6||7||align=left| Oleg Mishukov || align=left| ||46.41||
|-
|7||3||align=left| Dadi Denis || align=left| ||47.57||
|-
|data-sort-value=8| — ||2||align=left| Victor Kibet || align=left| ||||
|}
Heat 7
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||8||align=left| Michael Blackwood || align=left| ||45.23||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||7||align=left| Hamdan Al-Bishi || align=left| ||45.31||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|3||6||align=left| Saul Weigopwa || align=left| ||45.59||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|4||5||align=left| Matija Šestak || align=left| ||45.88||
|-
|5||3||align=left| Yuki Yamaguchi || align=left| ||46.16||
|-
|6||1||align=left| Nagmeldin Ali Abubakr || align=left| ||46.32||
|-
|7||2||align=left| Muhammad Sajid Ahmad || align=left| ||47.45||
|-
|8||4||align=left| Moses Kamut || align=left| ||48.14||
|}
Heat 8
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||4||align=left| Leslie Djhone || align=left| ||45.40||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||2||align=left| Ezra Sambu || align=left| ||45.59||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|3||3||align=left| Timothy Benjamin || align=left| ||45.69||
|-
|4||5||align=left| Clinton Hill || align=left| ||45.89||
|-
|5||6||align=left| Adem Hecini || align=left| ||46.50||
|-
|6||7||align=left| Luis Luna || align=left| ||47.92||
|-
|7||1||align=left| Jonnie Lowe || align=left| ||48.06||
|-
|8||8||align=left| Anderson Jorge dos Santos || align=left| ||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
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||3||align=left| Jeremy Wariner || align=left| ||44.87||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||5||align=left| Michael Blackwood || align=left| ||45.00||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|3||6||align=left| Leslie Djhone || align=left| ||45.01||
|-
|4||4||align=left| Lewis Banda || align=left| ||45.23||
|-
|5||2||align=left| Eric Milazar || align=left| ||45.23||
|-
|6||8||align=left| Gary Kikaya || align=left| ||45.58||
|-
|7||1||align=left| Ezra Sambu || align=left| ||45.84||
|-
|8||7||align=left| Cédric van Branteghem || align=left| ||46.03||
|}
Semifinal 2
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||4||align=left| Derrick Brew || align=left| ||45.05||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||8||align=left| Davian Clarke || align=left| ||45.27||
|-
|3||5||align=left| Chris Brown || align=left| ||45.31||
|-
|4||6||align=left| Yeimer López || align=left| ||45.52||
|-
|5||7||align=left| Alejandro Cárdenas || align=left| ||45.64||
|-
|6||2||align=left| K. Mathews Binu || align=left| ||45.97||
|-
|7||1||align=left| Matija Šestak || align=left| ||46.54||
|-
|data-sort-value=8| — ||3||align=left| Anton Galkin || align=left| ||<s>45.34</s>||
|}
Semifinal 3
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||8||align=left| Brandon Simpson || align=left| ||44.97||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||5||align=left| Otis Harris || align=left| ||44.99||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
|3||6||align=left| Alleyne Francique || align=left| ||45.08||
|-
|4||4||align=left| Carlos Santa || align=left| ||45.58||
|-
|5||3||align=left| Hamdan Al-Bishi || align=left| ||45.59||
|-
|6||2||align=left| Saul Weigopwa || align=left| ||45.67||
|-
|7||1||align=left| Ingo Schultz || align=left| ||46.23||
|-
|8||7||align=left| Timothy Benjamin || align=left| ||46.28||
|}
Final
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-
|||4||align=left| Jeremy Wariner || align=left| ||44.00||
|-
|||5||align=left| Otis Harris || align=left| ||44.16||
|-
|||3||align=left| Derrick Brew || align=left| ||44.42||
|-
|4||8||align=left| Alleyne Francique || align=left| ||44.66||
|-
|5||6||align=left| Brandon Simpson || align=left| ||44.76||
|-
|6||7||align=left| Davian Clarke || align=left| ||44.83||
|-
|7||2||align=left| Leslie Djhone || align=left| ||44.94||
|-
|8||1||align=left| Michael Blackwood || align=left| ||45.55||
|}
References
External links
- IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage