Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics

At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, 43 events in athletics were contested, 24 events by men and 19 by women. The competition ran from July 31, 1992 to August 9, 1992. Fourteen world record-holders (eight men and six women) were among the contenders. There were also a good thirty former Olympic champions competing, and a total number of 1725 athletes from 156 countries.

Of the 39 current individual world champions, only three won the gold in their events, and they were three women: Marie-José Pérec of France in the 400 m, Heike Henkel of Germany in the high jump and Hassiba Boulmerka of Algeria in the 1500 m. Three of the "unquestioned" favourites failed: the Ukrainian Sergey Bubka (EUN) did not make a valid vault, Michael Johnson of the USA was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 200 m and Noureddine Morceli of Algeria came seventh in the final of the 1500 m.

A total number of three world records were set in the competition. On August 6 in the 400 m hurdles, Kevin Young (46.78 s) shattered a legendary barrier, the 47 seconds, which had stood up even to the finest specialist of all time, Edwin Moses, since 1983, with 47.02 s. On August 8, within the space of about two hours, the other records were broken, both in the relays. In the 4x100 m, the US team of Michael Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell and Carl Lewis, with a time of 37.40 s, knocked ten hundredths off the previous best, run in the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Tokyo by the same team, except for the first (Cason instead of Marsh). In the 4x400 m, Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Michael Johnson and Steve Lewis ran 2 min 55.74 s.

Medal summary

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Linford Christie Great Britain (GBR)	9.96	Frankie Fredericks Namibia (NAM)	10.02	Dennis Mitchell United States (USA)	10.04
200 metres	Michael Marsh United States (USA)	20.01	Frankie Fredericks Namibia (NAM)	20.13	Michael Bates United States (USA)	20.38
400 metres	Quincy Watts United States (USA)	43.50	Steve Lewis United States (USA)	44.21	Samson Kitur Kenya (KEN)	44.24
800 metres	William Tanui Kenya (KEN)	1:43.66	Nixon Kiprotich Kenya (KEN)	1:43.70	Johnny Gray United States (USA)	1:43.97
1500 metres	Fermín Cacho Spain (ESP)	3:40.12	Rachid El Basir Morocco (MAR)	3:40.62	Mohammed Suleiman Qatar (QAT)	3:40.69
5000 metres	Dieter Baumann Germany (GER)	13:12.52	Paul Bitok Kenya (KEN)	13:12.71	Fita Bayisa Ethiopia (ETH)	13:13.03
10,000 metres	Khalid Skah Morocco (MAR)	27:46.70	Richard Chelimo Kenya (KEN)	27:47.72	Addis Abebe Ethiopia (ETH)	28:00.07
110 metres hurdles	Mark McKoy Canada (CAN)	13.12	Tony Dees United States (USA)	13.24	Jack Pierce United States (USA)	13.26
400 metres hurdles	Kevin Young United States (USA)	46.78 (WR)	Winthrop Graham Jamaica (JAM)	47.66	Kriss Akabusi Great Britain (GBR)	47.82
3000 metres steeplechase	Matthew Birir Kenya (KEN)	8:08.84	Patrick Sang Kenya (KEN)	8:09.55	William Mutwol Kenya (KEN)	8:10.74
4×100 metres relay	United States (USA) Michael Marsh Leroy Burrell Dennis Mitchell Carl Lewis James Jett*	37.40 (WR)	Nigeria (NGR) Oluyemi Kayode Chidi Imoh Olapade Adeniken Davidson Ezinwa Osmond Ezinwa*	37.98	Cuba (CUB) Andrés Simón Joel Lamela Joel Isasi Jorge Aguilera	38.00
4×400 metres relay	United States (USA) Andrew Valmon Quincy Watts Michael Johnson Steve Lewis Darnell Hall* Charles Jenkins*	2:55.74 (WR)	Cuba (CUB) Lázaro Martínez Héctor Herrera Norberto Téllez Roberto Hernández	2:59.51	Great Britain (GBR) Roger Black David Grindley Kriss Akabusi John Regis Du'aine Ladejo* Mark Richardson*	2:59.73
Marathon	Hwang Young-Cho South Korea (KOR)	2:13:23	Koichi Morishita Japan (JPN)	2:13:45	Stephan Freigang Germany (GER)	2:14:00
20 kilometres walk	Daniel Plaza Spain (ESP)	1:21.25	Guillaume LeBlanc Canada (CAN)	1:22.25	Giovanni De Benedictis Italy (ITA)	1:23.11
50 kilometres walk	Andrey Perlov Unified Team (EUN)	3:50.13	Carlos Mercenario Mexico (MEX)	3:52.09	Ronald Weigel Germany (GER)	3:53.45
Long jump	Carl Lewis United States (USA)	8.67 m	Mike Powell United States (USA)	8.64 m	Joe Greene United States (USA)	8.34 m
Triple jump	Mike Conley United States (USA)	18.17  mw	Charles Simpkins United States (USA)	17.60 m	Frank Rutherford Bahamas (BAH)	17.36 m
High jump	Javier Sotomayor Cuba (CUB)	2.34 m	Patrik Sjöberg Sweden (SWE)	2.34 m	Hollis Conway United States (USA)	2.34 m
					Tim Forsyth Australia (AUS)
					Artur Partyka Poland (POL)
Pole vault	Maksim Tarasov Unified Team (EUN)	5.80 m	Igor Trandenkov Unified Team (EUN)	5.80 m	Javier García Spain (ESP)	5.75 m
Shot put	Mike Stulce United States (USA)	21.70 m	Jim Doehring United States (USA)	20.96 m	Vyacheslav Lykho Unified Team (EUN)	20.94 m
Discus throw	Romas Ubartas Lithuania (LTU)	65.12 m	Jürgen Schult Germany (GER)	64.94 m	Roberto Moya Cuba (CUB)	64.12 m
Javelin throw	Jan Železný Czechoslovakia (TCH)	89.66 m	Seppo Räty Finland (FIN)	86.60 m	Steve Backley Great Britain (GBR)	83.38 m
Hammer throw	Andrey Abduvaliyev Unified Team (EUN)	82.54 m	Igor Astapkovich Unified Team (EUN)	81.96 m	Igor Nikulin Unified Team (EUN)	81.38 m
Decathlon	Robert Změlík Czechoslovakia (TCH)	8611	Antonio Peñalver Spain (ESP)	8412	Dave Johnson United States (USA)	8309

* Athletes who participated in the heats only and received medals.

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Gail Devers United States (USA)	10.82	Juliet Cuthbert Jamaica (JAM)	10.83	Irina Privalova Unified Team (EUN)	10.84
200 metres	Gwen Torrence United States (USA)	21.81	Juliet Cuthbert Jamaica (JAM)	22.02	Merlene Ottey Jamaica (JAM)	22.09
400 metres	Marie-José Pérec France (FRA)	48.83	Olga Bryzgina Unified Team (EUN)	49.05	Ximena Restrepo Colombia (COL)	49.64
800 metres	Ellen van Langen Netherlands (NED)	1:55:54	Liliya Nurutdinova Unified Team (EUN)	1:55:99	Ana Fidelia Quirot Cuba (CUB)	1:56.80
1500 metres	Hassiba Boulmerka Algeria (ALG)	3:55.30	Lyudmila Rogachova Unified Team (EUN)	3:56.91	Qu Yunxia China (CHN)	3:57.08
3000 metres	Yelena Romanova Unified Team (EUN)	8:46.04	Tetyana Dorovskikh Unified Team (EUN)	8:46.85	Angela Chalmers Canada (CAN)	8:47.22
10,000 metres	Derartu Tulu Ethiopia (ETH)	31:06.02	Elana Meyer South Africa (RSA)	31:11.75	Lynn Jennings United States (USA)	31:19.89
100 metres hurdles	Voula Patoulidou Greece (GRE)	12.64	LaVonna Martin United States (USA)	12.69	Yordanka Donkova Bulgaria (BUL)	12.70
400 metres hurdles	Sally Gunnell Great Britain (GBR)	53.23	Sandra Farmer-Patrick United States (USA)	53.69	Janeene Vickers United States (USA)	54.31
4×100 metres relay	United States (USA) Evelyn Ashford Esther Jones Carlette Guidry Gwen Torrence Michelle Finn*	42.11	Unified Team (EUN) Olga Bogoslovskaya Galina Malchugina Marina Trandenkova Irina Privalova	42.16	Nigeria (NGR) Beatrice Utondu Faith Idehen Christy Opara-Thompson Mary Onyali	42.81
4×400 metres relay	Unified Team (EUN) Yelena Ruzina Lyudmila Dzhigalova Olga Nazarova Olga Bryzgina Liliya Nurutdinova* Marina Shmonina*	3:20.20	United States (USA) Natasha Kaiser Gwen Torrence Jearl Miles Rochelle Stevens Denean Hill* Dannette Young*	3:20.92	Great Britain (GBR) Phylis Smith Sandra Douglas Jennifer Stoute Sally Gunnell	3:24.23
Marathon	Valentina Yegorova Unified Team (EUN)	2:32:41	Yuko Arimori Japan (JPN)	2:32:49	Lorraine Moller New Zealand (NZL)	2:33:59
10 kilometres walk	Chen Yueling China (CHN)	44:32	Yelena Nikolayeva Unified Team (EUN)	44:33	Li Chunxiu China (CHN)	44:41
Long jump	Heike Drechsler Germany (GER)	7.14 m	Inessa Kravets Unified Team (EUN)	7.12 m	Jackie Joyner-Kersee United States (USA)	7.07
High jump	Heike Henkel Germany (GER)	2.02 m	Alina Astafei Romania (ROU)	2.00 m	Joanet Quintero Cuba (CUB)	1.97 m
Shot put	Svetlana Krivelyova Unified Team (EUN)	21.06 m	Huang Zhihong China (CHN)	20.47 m	Kathrin Neimke Germany (GER)	19.78 m
Discus throw	Maritza Martén Cuba (CUB)	70.06 m	Tsvetanka Khristova Bulgaria (BUL)	67.78 m	Daniela Costian Australia (AUS)	66.24 m
Javelin throw	Silke Renk Germany (GER)	68.34 m	Natalya Shikolenko Unified Team (EUN)	68.26 m	Karen Forkel Germany (GER)	66.86 m
Heptathlon	Jackie Joyner-Kersee United States (USA)	7044	Irina Belova Unified Team (EUN)	6845	Sabine Braun Germany (GER)	6649

* Athletes who participated in the heats only and received medals.

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	12	8	10	30
2	Unified Team (EUN)	7	11	3	21
3	Germany (GER)	4	1	5	10
4	Kenya (KEN)	2	4	2	8
5	Cuba (CUB)	2	1	4	7
6	Spain (ESP)	2	1	1	4
7	Great Britain (GBR)	2	0	4	6
8	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	2	0	0	2
9	China (CHN)	1	1	2	4
10	Canada (CAN)	1	1	1	3
11	Morocco (MAR)	1	1	0	2
12	Ethiopia (ETH)	1	0	2	3
13	Algeria (ALG)	1	0	0	1
	France (FRA)	1	0	0	1
	Greece (GRE)	1	0	0	1
	Lithuania (LTU)	1	0	0	1
	Netherlands (NED)	1	0	0	1
	South Korea (KOR)	1	0	0	1
19	Jamaica (JAM)	0	3	1	4
20	Japan (JPN)	0	2	0	2
	Namibia (NAM)	0	2	0	2
22	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	1	1	2
	Nigeria (NGR)	0	1	1	2
24	Finland (FIN)	0	1	0	1
	Mexico (MEX)	0	1	0	1
	Romania (ROU)	0	1	0	1
	South Africa (RSA)	0	1	0	1
	Sweden (SWE)	0	1	0	1
29	Australia (AUS)	0	0	2	2
30	Bahamas (BAH)	0	0	1	1
	Colombia (COL)	0	0	1	1
	Italy (ITA)	0	0	1	1
	New Zealand (NZL)	0	0	1	1
	Poland (POL)	0	0	1	1
	Qatar (QAT)	0	0	1	1

See also

• 1992 in athletics (track and field)

References

• Athletics Australia