Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres hurdles

Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
5000 m		men		women
10,000 m		men		women
100 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men		women
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men		women
Road events
Marathon		men		women
20 km walk		men		women
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men		women
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men		women
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men		women
Combined events
Heptathlon				women
Decathlon		men

The women's 400 metres hurdles was one of 23 track events of the athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics, in Athens, Greece. It was contested at the Athens Olympic Stadium, from August 21 to August 25, by a total of 34 athletes from 25 nations.

In the first round, the first two runners from each of the five heats, together with the six fastest losing runners from all heats (5×2+6=16), automatically qualified for the semifinals. In the semifinals, these 16 runners competed in two heats, with the first four from each heat advancing to the final (2×4=8).

Greek sprinter Fani Halkia was the surprising winner despite having broken the Olympic record in her semifinal heat (52.77 seconds).

Medalists

Gold	Fani Halkia Greece (GRE)
Silver	Ionela Târlea-Manolache Romania (ROU)
Bronze	Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova Ukraine (UKR)

Qualification

The Olympic qualification period for the athletics ran from January 1, 2003 to August 9, 2004. For this event, each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was permitted to enter up to three athletes, provided they had run below 55.60 seconds during this period in IAAF-sanctioned meetings or tournaments. If a NOC had no athletes qualified under this standard, it could enter up to one athlete that had run below 56.25 seconds.

Records

These are the standing world and Olympic records.

World Record	52.34	Yuliya Pechenkina	Tula (RUS)	8 August 2003
Olympic Record	52.82	Deon Hemmings	Atlanta, Georgia (USA)	31 jULY 1996

The following records were set during the competition.

Date	Event	Athlete	Time	OR	WR
August 22, 2004	Semifinal	Faní Halkiá (GRE)	52.77	OR

Results

All times shown are in seconds. The following abbreviations are used:

• Q denotes qualification by place
• q denotes qualification by time
• DNS denotes "did not start"
• OR denotes "Olympic record"
• NR denotes "national record"
• PB denotes "personal best"
• SB denotes "season best"

First round

The first round was held on August 21. The first two runners of each heat plus the six fastest losing runners qualified for the semifinals.

Heat	Athlete	Nation	Time		Rank
1	Pechenkina, YuliyaYuliya Pechenkina	Russia	53.57	SB	1	Q
1	Tereshchuk-Antipova, TetyanaTetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova	Ukraine	54.63		4	Q
1	Urbansky, UlrikeUlrike Urbansky	Germany	55.15	SB	13	q
1	Niederstätter, MonikaMonika Niederstätter	Italy	55.57		17
1	Olivero, CoraCora Olivero	Spain	56.19		22
1	Allen, PatriciaPatricia Allen	Jamaica	56.40		25
1	Soulama, AissataAissata Soulama	Burkina Faso	57.60	PB	30
2	Rawlinson, JanaJana Rawlinson	Australia	54.83		10	Q
2	Bikert, YekaterinaYekaterina Bikert	Russia	54.95		11	Q
2	Torshina-Alimzhanova, NatalyaNatalya Torshina-Alimzhanova	Kazakhstan	55.22	SB	16	q
2	Zunda, IevaIeva Zunda	Latvia	56.21		23
2	Ceccarelli, BenedettaBenedetta Ceccarelli	Italy	56.28		24
2	Febbraio, SuritaSurita Febbraio	South Africa	56.49		26
3	Târlea-Manolache, IonelaIonela Târlea-Manolache	Romania	54.41		3	Q
3	Taylor, BrendaBrenda Taylor	United States	54.72		6	Q
3	Bidouane, NezhaNezha Bidouane	Morocco	55.69		18
3	Jesień, AnnaAnna Jesień	Poland	56.03		21
3	Stoddart, ShevonShevon Stoddart	Jamaica	56.61		28
3	Shala, KlodianaKlodiana Shala	Albania	60.00		33
3	Kampf, StephanieStephanie Kampf	Germany	999 !DNS		999 !—
4	Halkiá, FaníFaní Halkiá	Greece	53.85	NR	2	Q
4	Demus, LashindaLashinda Demus	United States	54.66		5	Q
4	Bakhvalova, YekaterinaYekaterina Bakhvalova	Russia	55.16		14	q
4	Parris-Thymes, Debbie-AnnDebbie-Ann Parris-Thymes	Jamaica	55.21	SB	15	q
4	Harrison, YvonneYvonne Harrison	Puerto Rico	55.84		19
4	Diouf, Mame TackoMame Tacko Diouf	Senegal	57.25		29
4	Djamalidine, SalhateSalhate Djamalidine	Comoros	59.72		32
5	Pskit, MalgorzataMalgorzata Pskit	Poland	54.75	PB	7	Q
5	Johnson, SheenaSheena Johnson	United States	54.81		8	Q
5	Huang, XiaoxiaoXiaoxiao Huang	China	54.81	PB	8	q
5	Sialou, AndroulaAndroula Sialou	Cyprus	55.02		12	q
5	Pernía, DaimíDaimí Pernía	Cuba	55.91		20
5	Blackett, AndreaAndrea Blackett	Barbados	56.49		26
5	Pedan, GalinaGalina Pedan	Kyrgyzstan	59.02		31

Semifinals

The semifinals were held on August 22. The first four runners of each heat qualified for the final.

Heat	Athlete	Nation	Time		Rank
1	Pechenkina, YuliyaYuliya Pechenkina	Russia	53.31	SB	2	Q
1	Rawlinson, JanaJana Rawlinson	Australia	54.05		6	Q
1	Johnson, SheenaSheena Johnson	United States	54.32		7	Q
1	Taylor, BrendaBrenda Taylor	United States	55.02		11	Q
1	Torshina-Alimzhanova, NatalyaNatalya Torshina-Alimzhanova	Kazakhstan	55.08	SB	12
1	Pskit, MalgorzataMalgorzata Pskit	Poland	55.24		13
1	Urbansky, UlrikeUlrike Urbansky	Germany	56.44		15
1	Sialou, AndroulaAndroula Sialou	Cyprus	65.72		16
2	Halkiá, FaníFaní Halkiá	Greece	52.77	OR	1	Q
2	Târlea-Manolache, IonelaIonela Târlea-Manolache	Romania	53.32	SB	3	Q
2	Tereshchuk-Antipova, TetyanaTetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova	Ukraine	53.37	NR	4	Q
2	Bikert, YekaterinaYekaterina Bikert	Russia	53.79		5	Q
2	Demus, LashindaLashinda Demus	United States	54.32		8
2	Bakhvalova, YekaterinaYekaterina Bakhvalova	Russia	54.98		9
2	Parris-Thymes, Debbie-AnnDebbie-Ann Parris-Thymes	Jamaica	54.99	SB	10
2	Huang, XiaoxiaoXiaoxiao Huang	China	55.53		14

Final

The final was held on August 25.

Rank	Athlete	Time
	Fani Halkia (GRE)	52.82
	Ionela Târlea-Manolache (ROU)	53.38
	Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova (UKR)	53.44
4	Sheena Johnson (USA)	53.83
5	Jana Rawlinson (AUS)	53.92
6	Yekaterina Bikert (RUS)	54.18
7	Brenda Taylor (USA)	54.97
8	Yuliya Pechonkina (RUS)	55.79

References

• "Athens Olympic Games 2004 - Results". IAAF. 2004. http://www.iaaf.org/oly04/results/byevent.html. Retrieved 2007-08-25.