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

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

LaShawn Merritt from the United States won the gold medal, making it the seventh straight time an American won this event. This victory also marked the 19th time in history that the United States won the men's 400 metres at the Olympics. Jeremy Wariner, also from the United States, got the silver medal, becoming the fourth person ever to win two medals in this race. David Neville, another American, took the bronze medal, completing an all-American podium for the second time in a row.

The race was very close! Merritt won by a margin of 0.99 seconds, which is the largest winning gap in the men's Olympic 400 metres since they started using electronic timing. This impressive race 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 previous champion, Jeremy Wariner, had won big races before but this year he wasn't as strong. LaShawn Merritt beat him in important races leading up to the Olympics.

In the final race, Merritt started strong and pulled ahead of the others. He ran very 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's win was by a big margin, almost a full second faster than Wariner in the last part of the race.

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 and also won world championships in 2005 and 2007. However, his teammate LaShawn Merritt had beaten him twice in 2008, including at the U.S. Olympic trials, 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, and they missed only the 1980 Games due to a boycott.

Qualification

Each country's Olympic team could enter up to three runners 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 the same time.

Competition format

The men's 400 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics used a three-round format, which 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, but one heat had only 7 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, which had eight runners.

Records

Before this race, there were existing world and Olympic records, but no new records were broken during the competition.

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, along with 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 of 0.99 seconds, the biggest win in this race since 1896.