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

The men's 400 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place from August 18 to 21 at the Beijing National Stadium. Fifty-five athletes from 40 countries competed in this exciting race.

LaShawn Merritt from the United States won the gold medal. This was the seventh time in a row that an American won this event. Jeremy Wariner, also from the United States, won the silver medal. David Neville, another American, won the bronze medal. This made it the second time in a row that all three medalists were from the United States.

The race was very close! Merritt won by a margin of 0.99 seconds. This showed why the 400 metres is one of the most exciting events in the Olympics.

Summary

The men's 400 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics happened from August 18 to 21 in Beijing. The past winner, Jeremy Wariner, wasn't as strong this year. LaShawn Merritt beat him in big races before the Olympics.

In the final race, Merritt ran fast and won with a time of 43.75 seconds. Wariner came in second, and David Neville took third place just ahead of Chris Brown. Merritt won by a big margin.

Background

This was the 26th time the men's 400 metres race appeared in the Olympics. It is one of 12 athletics events that has been held at every Summer Olympics. Four runners who competed in the 2004 Olympics returned for this race. They included Jeremy Wariner from the United States, who won gold in 2004. His teammate LaShawn Merritt had beaten him twice in 2008, making both of them strong favorites to win.

Four countries—The People's Republic of China, the Czech Republic, São Tomé and Príncipe, and San Marino—competed in this event for the very first time. The United States participated for the 25th time, having the most appearances of any nation.

Qualification

Each country could enter up to three runners for the Olympics if they had run the race in 45.55 seconds or faster between January 1, 2007, and July 23, 2008. Teams could also enter one extra runner if they had run the race in 45.95 seconds or faster during that time.

Competition format

The men's 400 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics used a three-round format. It started in 2004.

In the first round and the semifinals, they used a system called the "fastest loser." There were 7 heats in the first round, with 8 runners each. One heat had only 7 runners because someone withdrew. The top three runners in each heat moved on, plus the next three fastest overall.

The 24 semifinalists were split into 3 heats of 8 runners each. The top two from each semifinal heat and the next two fastest overall advanced to the final. The final had eight runners.

Records

Before this race, there were world and Olympic records, but no new records were broken.

Some countries set new national records for the first time during this event.

Schedule

Since 1984, every round of the men's 400 metres race has been held on different days.

All times for the races were shown in China Standard Time, which is also known as UTC+8.

Results

The first round of the men's 400 metres took place on August 18, 2008. The top three runners in each heat, and the next three fastest runners overall, moved on to the semifinals.

The semifinals were held on August 19, and the final race decided the winner a few days later. In the final, Merritt pulled ahead and won by a large margin, the biggest win in this race since 1896.