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Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles

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Men's 400 metres hurdles
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
Kevin Young (2012)
VenueEstadi Olímpic Lluís Companys
Dates3 August 1992 (quarterfinals)
5 August 1992 (semifinals)
6 August 1992 (final)
Competitors47 from 35 nations
Winning time46.78 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Kevin Young
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Winthrop Graham
 Jamaica
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Kriss Akabusi
 Great Britain
← 1988
1996 →
Official Video Highlights
@ 1:00

The men's 400 metres hurdles was an event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.[1] It was held from 3 to 6 August at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. There were 47 competitors from 35 nations.[2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Kevin Young of the United States, the nation's third consecutive and 15th overall victory in the event. Winthrop Graham earned Jamaica's first men's 400 metres hurdles medal with his silver. Kriss Akabusi earned bronze, putting Great Britain on the podium in the event for the first time since 1980. The three medalists had finished in the same order in 1988, just outside of the medals that year in fourth through sixth places.

Background

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This was the 20th time the event was held. It had been introduced along with the men's 200 metres hurdles in 1900, with the 200 being dropped after 1904 and the 400 being held through 1908 before being left off the 1912 programme. However, when the Olympics returned in 1920 after World War I, the men's 400 metres hurdles was back and would continue to be contested at every Games thereafter.

Four of the eight finalists from the 1988 Games returned: silver medalist Amadou Dia Ba of Senegal, fourth-place finisher Kevin Young of the United States, fifth-place finisher Winthrop Graham of Jamaica, and sixth-place finisher Kriss Akabusi of Great Britain. Two of the great long hurdlers, American Edwin Moses and West German Harald Schmid, had retired. The reigning world champion, and favorite in Barcelona, was Samuel Matete of Zambia. Graham and Akabusi had finished behind Matete at the world championships and were also strong contenders.[2]

The Central African Republic, Costa Rica, Guam, Guinea, Israel, Papua New Guina, Thailand, and Tonga each made their debut in the event; some former Soviet republics competed as the Unified Team. The United States made its 19th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Summary

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Running in lane 4, Kevin Young appeared to have the slowest reaction to the gun of the field. To his inside, Graham was the first over the first hurdle. Using a left leg lead, 13 strides to the second hurdle, Young had pulled to just slightly behind Graham. Between the next two hurdles he ran 12 strides, alternating to the right leg lead over the fourth hurdle. Over the fifth hurdle he had made up the stagger on Kriss Akabusi to his outside. Relative to the hurdles, he had clearly passed Graham with the rest of the field clearly a full stride or more behind. Running 13 strides the rest of the way, he passed the rest of the competitors to his outside between the next two hurdles. A one stride lead over Graham at the eight hurdle became two by the ninth. Young was still powerful as Graham was struggling. In the battle for bronze, Stéphane Diagana had a slight lead over Akabusi over the eighth hurdle, but Akabusi clearly broke away between eight and nine, which Diagana struggled to clear. Young tried to maintain his power into the final hurdle though he came up a little short, catching the face of the hurdle with his lead leg heel, riding the hurdle to the ground. He maintained his powerful stride to the finish. Realizing he had the clear victory, Young raised his right arm in celebration 10 meters before the finish, slowing his last four strides. Still, Young crossed the finish line with a new world record, taking almost a quarter of a second out of Edwin Moses' nine-year-old record. Graham held on for second, as Akabusi was unable to make up the gap with Diagana unable to recover the distance he had lost to Akabusi.

Competition format

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The competition used the three-round format used every Games since 1908 (except the four-round competition in 1952): quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. Ten sets of hurdles were set on the course. The hurdles were 3 feet (91.5 centimetres) tall and were placed 35 metres apart beginning 45 metres from the starting line, resulting in a 40 metres home stretch after the last hurdle. The 400 metres track was standard.

There were 7 quarterfinal heats with 7 athletes each (before two withdrawals left one heat with only 5). The top 2 men in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals along with the next fastest 2 overall. The 16 semifinalists were divided into 2 semifinals of 8 athletes each, with the top 4 in each semifinal advancing to the 8-man final.[2]

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics.

World record  Edwin Moses (USA) 47.02 Koblenz, West Germany 31 August 1983
Olympic record  Andre Phillips (USA) 47.19 Seoul, South Korea 25 September 1988

In the final, Kevin Young set a new world record with 46.78.

Schedule

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All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round
Monday, 3 August 1992 12:15 Quarterfinals
Wednesday, 5 August 1992 19:15 Semifinals
Thursday, 6 August 1992 19:00 Final

Results

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Quarterfinals

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Quarterfinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Kevin Young  United States 48.76 Q
2 Stéphane Caristan  France 49.16 Q
3 Gideon Yego  Kenya 49.23
4 Athanassios Kalogiannis  Greece 49.52
5 Aleksey Bazarov  Israel 50.33
6 Jacques-Henri Brunet  Central African Republic 52.59
7 Abdullah Sabt Ghulam  United Arab Emirates 56.20

Quarterfinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Samuel Matete  Zambia 49.89 Q
2 Olaf Hense  Germany 49.97 Q
3 Domingo Cordero  Puerto Rico 50.19
4 Kazuhiko Yamazaki  Japan 50.30
5 Vadim Zadoynov  Unified Team 51.21
6 Baobo Neuendorf  Papua New Guinea 53.30
7 Amadou Sy Savane  Guinea 54.26

Quarterfinal 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Erick Keter  Kenya 48.28 Q
2 Stéphane Diagana  France 48.41 Q
3 Oleg Tverdokhleb  Unified Team 48.68 q
4 Mark Jackson  Canada 49.18
5 Pedro Rodrigues  Portugal 49.46
6 Ghulam Abbas  Pakistan 50.57
7 Autiko Daunakamakama  Fiji 53.90

Quarterfinal 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 McClinton Neal  United States 49.13 Q
2 Carsten Köhrbrück  Germany 49.37 Q
3 Amadou Dia Ba  Senegal 49.47
4 Andries Vorster  South Africa 49.75
Pedro Chiamulera  Brazil DNF
Zeid Abou Hamed  Syria DNS
Fadhel Khayati  Tunisia DNS

Quarterfinal 5

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Sven Nylander  Sweden 49.49 Q
2 David Patrick  United States 49.56 Q
3 Jozef Kucej  Czechoslovakia 50.28
4 Hubert Rakotombelontsoa  Madagascar 51.54
5 Paeaki Kokohu  Tonga 56.99
Max Robertson  Great Britain DNF
Mark Thompson  Jamaica DSQ

Quarterfinal 6

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Kriss Akabusi  Great Britain 48.98 Q
2 Eronilde de Araújo  Brazil 49.10 Q
3 Fabrizio Mori  Italy 49.16
4 Simon Hollingsworth  Australia 49.74
5 Paweł Woźniak  Poland 50.30
6 Chanon Keanchan  Thailand 50.60
7 Richard Bentley  Guam 57.04

Quarterfinal 7

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Winthrop Graham  Jamaica 48.51 Q
2 Niklas Wallenlind  Sweden 48.71 Q
3 Barnabas Kinyor  Kenya 48.90 q
4 Yoshihiko Saito  Japan 49.01
5 Asen Markov  Bulgaria 50.21
6 Giovanny Fanny  Seychelles 52.63
7 Alex Foster  Costa Rica 52.93

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Kriss Akabusi  Great Britain 48.01 Q
2 Stéphane Diagana  France 48.28 Q
3 Niklas Wallenlind  Sweden 48.35 Q
4 David Patrick  United States 48.47 Q
5 McClinton Neal  United States 48.71
6 Erick Keter  Kenya 49.01
7 Carsten Köhrbrück  Germany 49.41
8 Eronilde de Araújo  Brazil 49.66

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Winthrop Graham  Jamaica 47.62 Q
2 Kevin Young  United States 47.63 Q
3 Oleh Tverdokhlib  Unified Team 49.11 Q
4 Stéphane Caristan  France 49.50 Q
5 Barnabas Kinyor  Kenya 49.52
6 Sven Nylander  Sweden 49.64
Samuel Matete  Zambia DSQ
Olaf Hense  Germany DNS

Final

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The final was held on August 6, 1992.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Kevin Young  United States 46.78 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Winthrop Graham  Jamaica 47.66
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Kriss Akabusi  Great Britain 47.82
4 Stéphane Diagana  France 48.13
5 Niklas Wallenlind  Sweden 48.63
6 Oleh Tverdokhlib  Unified Team 48.63
7 Stéphane Caristan  France 48.86
8 David Patrick  United States 49.26

Results summary

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Rank Athlete Nation Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Kevin Young  United States 48.76 47.63 46.78 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Winthrop Graham  Jamaica 48.51 47.62 47.66
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Kriss Akabusi  Great Britain 48.98 48.01 47.82
4 Stéphane Diagana  France 48.41 48.28 48.13
5 Niklas Wallenlind  Sweden 48.71 48.35 48.63
6 Oleh Tverdokhlib  Unified Team 48.68 49.11 48.63
7 Stéphane Caristan  France 49.16 49.50 48.86
8 David Patrick  United States 49.56 48.47 49.26
9 McClinton Neal  United States 49.13 48.71 Did not advance
10 Erick Keter  Kenya 48.28 49.01
11 Carsten Köhrbrück  Germany 49.37 49.41
12 Barnabas Kinyor  Kenya 48.90 49.52
13 Sven Nylander  Sweden 49.49 49.64
14 Eronilde de Araújo  Brazil 49.10 49.66
15 Samuel Matete  Zambia 49.89 DSQ
16 Olaf Hense  Germany 49.97 DNS
17 Yoshihiko Saito  Japan 49.01 Did not advance
18 Fabrizio Mori  Italy 49.16
19 Mark Jackson  Canada 49.18
20 Gideon Yego  Kenya 49.23
21 Pedro Rodrigues  Portugal 49.46
22 Amadou Dia Ba  Senegal 49.47
23 Athanassios Kalogiannis  Greece 49.52
24 Simon Hollingsworth  Australia 49.74
25 Andries Vorster  South Africa 49.75
26 Domingo Cordero  Puerto Rico 50.19
27 Asen Markov  Bulgaria 50.21
28 Jozef Kucej  Czechoslovakia 50.28
29 Paweł Woźniak  Poland 50.30
Kazuhiko Yamazaki  Japan 50.30
31 Aleksey Bazarov  Israel 50.33
32 Ghulam Abbas  Pakistan 50.57
33 Chanon Keanchan  Thailand 50.60
34 Vadim Zadoynov  Unified Team 51.21
35 Hubert Rakotombelontsoa  Madagascar 51.54
36 Jacques-Henri Brunet  Central African Republic 52.59
37 Giovanny Fanny  Seychelles 52.63
38 Alex Foster  Costa Rica 52.93
39 Baobo Neuendorf  Papua New Guinea 53.30
40 Autiko Daunakamakama  Fiji 53.90
41 Amadou Sy Savane  Guinea 54.26
42 Abdullah Sabt Ghulam  United Arab Emirates 56.20
43 Paeaki Kokohu  Tonga 56.99
44 Richard Bentley  Guam 57.04
45 Pedro Chiamulera  Brazil DNF
Max Robertson  Great Britain DNF
47 Mark Thompson  Jamaica DSQ
Zeid Abou Hamed  Syria DNS
Fadhel Khayati  Tunisia DNS

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games: Men's 400 metres Hurdles". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "400 metres Hurdles, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
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