Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres

Men's 400 metres at the Games of the VII Olympiad
Venue	Olympisch Stadion
Dates	August 19–20
Competitors	37 from 16 nations
Medalists
Bevil Rudd  South Africa Guy Butler  Great Britain Nils Engdahl  Sweden

The men's 400 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Thursday, August 19, 1920, and on Friday, August 20, 1920.

37 runners from 16 nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World Record	47.4(*)	Ted Meredith	Cambridge, MA (USA)	May 27, 1916
Olympic Record	48.2	Charles Reidpath	Stockholm (SWE)	July 13, 1912

(*) 440 yards (= 402.34 m)

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Robert Lindsay (GBR)	52.0	Q
2	Clarence Oldfield (RSA)	52.2	Q
3	Tolly Bolin (SWE)	52.6

Heat 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Gaston Féry (FRA)	51.1	Q
2	John Ainsworth-Davis (GBR)	51.3	Q
3	Karel Frankenstein (TCH)	51.8
4	Frank Irvine (RSA)

Heat 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Frank Shea (USA)	50.8	Q
2	Henry Dafel (RSA)	51.2	Q
3	Sven Krokström (SWE)	51.6

Heat 4

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Ted Meredith (USA)	51.6	Q
2	Géo André (FRA)	52.3	Q
3	Giuseppe Bernardoni (ITA)	52.8

Heat 5

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Bevil Rudd (RSA)	50.6	Q
2	Erik Wilén (FIN)	51.1	Q
3	Reinhold Saulmann (EST)	51.6
4	Giovanni Tosi (ITA)	51.8

Heat 6

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Robert Emery (USA)	52.6	Q
2	Guy Butler (GBR)	53.2	Q
3	Karel Přibyl (TCH)	54.0
4	Jules Migeot (BEL)	55.1

Heat 7

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	George Schiller (USA)	50.4	Q
2	Nils Engdahl (SWE)	50.6	Q
3	Maurice Delvart (FRA)	50.9
4	Einar Mangset (NOR)	51.3

Heat 8

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Eric Sundblad (SWE)	52.0	Q
2	Hec Phillips (CAN)	52.3	Q
3	Agide Simonazzi (ITA)	53.0
4	Purma Bannerjee (IND)	53.1

Heat 9

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Omer Corteyn (BEL)	52.2	Q
2	Hedges Worthington-Eyre (GBR)	52.5	Q
3	Jean Proess (LUX)	52.6
4	José García Lorenzana (ESP)	52.8

Heat 10

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	François Morren (BEL)	51.6	Q
2	Miguel García Onsalo (ESP)	52.0	Q
3	Eugène Bayon (FRA)	52.4
4	Ahmed Khairy (EGY)

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Nils Engdahl (SWE)	50.4	Q
2	John Ainsworth-Davis (GBR)	50.7	Q
3	Robert Emery (USA)	50.7	Q
4	François Morren (BEL)	50.8
5	Clarence Oldfield (RSA)	51.1

Quarterfinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Gaston Féry (FRA)	50.6	Q
2	Guy Butler (GBR)	50.7	Q
3	Ted Meredith (USA)	50.8	Q
4	Erik Wilén (FIN)	51.1
5	Hec Phillips (CAN)	51.5

Quarterfinal 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Henry Dafel (RSA)	51.0	Q
2	George Schiller (USA)	51.3	Q
3	Eric Sundblad (SWE)	51.4	Q
4	Robert Lindsay (GBR)	51.7
5	Omer Corteyn (BEL)	52.1

Quarterfinal 4

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Frank Shea (USA)	51.0	Q
2	Bevil Rudd (RSA)	51.2	Q
3	Géo André (FRA)	51.3	Q
4	Miguel García Onsalo (ESP)	52.6
5	Hedges Worthington-Eyre (GBR)	52.7

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Nils Engdahl (SWE)	49.6	Q
2	Bevil Rudd (RSA)	49.7	Q
3	John Ainsworth-Davis (GBR)	49.9	Q
4	Robert Emery (USA)
5	George Schiller (USA)
6	Gaston Féry (FRA)

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Frank Shea (USA)	50.0	Q
2	Guy Butler (GBR)	50.2	Q
3	Henry Dafel (RSA)	50.4	Q
4	Ted Meredith (USA)	50.4
5	Géo André (FRA)	50.5
6	Eric Sundblad (SWE)	52.0

Final

Place	Athlete	Time
1	Bevil Rudd (RSA)	49.6
2	Guy Butler (GBR)	49.9
3	Nils Engdahl (SWE)	49.9
4	Frank Shea (USA)	49.9
5	John Ainsworth-Davis (GBR)	50.0
6	Henry Dafel (RSA)	50.1

References

• www.sports-reference.com
• Belgium Olympic Committee (1957). Olympic Games Antwerp 1920: Official Report (in French).
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 11 August 2007.