Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres hurdles

The Women's 400 metres Hurdles at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entrylist of 35 competitors, with five qualifying heats (38 runners) and two semifinals (16) before the final (8) took place on Wednesday September 28, 1988.

Medalists

Gold	Debbie Flintoff-King  Australia
Silver	Tatyana Ledovskaya  Soviet Union
Bronze	Ellen Fiedler  East Germany

Records

These were the standing World and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics.

World Record	52.94	Marina Stepanova	Stuttgart (FGR)	September 17, 1986
Olympic Record	54.61	Nawal El Moutawakel	Los Angeles (USA)	August 8, 1984

The following Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date	Event	Athlete	Time	OR	WR
September 25, 1988	Quarterfinal	Ellen Fiedler (GDR)	54.58 s	OR
September 26, 1988	Semifinal	Debbie Flintoff-King (AUS)	54.00 s	OR
September 28, 1988	Final	Debbie Flintoff-King (AUS)	53.17 s	OR

Final

RANK	FINAL	TIME
	Debbie Flintoff-King (AUS)	53.17(OR)
	Tatyana Ledovskaya (URS)	53.18
	Ellen Fiedler (GDR)	53.63
4.	Sabine Busch (GDR)	53.69
5.	Sally Gunnell (GBR)	54.03
6.	Gudrun Abt (FRG)	54.04
7.	Tatyana Kourochkina (URS)	54.39
8.	LaTanya Sheffield (USA)	55.32

Semi finals

RANK	FINAL	HEAT 1
1.	Debbie Flintoff-King (AUS)	54.00(OR)
2.	Tatyana Ledovskaya (URS)	54.01
3.	LaTanya Sheffield (USA)	54.36
4.	Sally Gunnell (GBR)	54.48
5.	Anita Protti (SUI)	54.56
6.	Susanne Losch (GDR)	55.56
7.	Genowefa Błaszak (POL)	56.76
8.	Gretha Tromp (NED)	57.57

RANK	HEAT 2	TIME
1.	Ellen Fiedler (GDR)	54.28
2.	Tatyana Kourochkina (URS)	54.46
3.	Gudrun Abt (FRG)	54.53
4.	Sabine Busch (GDR)	54.71
5.	Cristina Pérez (ESP)	55.23
6.	Elaine McLaughlin (GBR)	55.91
7.	Schowonda Williams (USA)	56.71
8.	Chantal Beaugeant (FRA)	56.94

Qualifying heats

RANK	HEAT 1	TIME
1.	Susanne Losch (GDR)	55.90
2.	Tatyana Ledovskaya (URS)	55.91
3.	Elaine McLaughlin (GBR)	56.11
4.	Rose Tata-Muya (KEN)	56.18
5.	Marie Womplou (CIV)	57.35
6.	Christine Wynn (CAN)	58.00
7.	P.T. Usha (IND)	59.55

RANK	HEAT 2	TIME
1.	Sabine Busch (GDR)	55.96
2.	Gretha Tromp (NED)	56.11
3.	Genowefa Błaszak (POL)	56.18
4.	Jennifer Laurendet (AUS)	56.44
5.	Rosey Edeh (CAN)	56.59
6.	Ruth Kyalisiima (UGA)	59.62
7.	Nenita Adan (PHI)	1:01.92

RANK	HEAT 3	TIME
1.	Ellen Fiedler (GDR)	54.58(OR)
2.	Anita Protti (SUI)	54.81
3.	Tatyana Kourochkina (URS)	55.04
4.	Latanya Sheffield (USA)	55.61
5.	Maria Usifo (NGR)	55.99
6.	Helga Halldorsdottir (ISL)	58.99
7.	Kim Soon-Ja (KOR)	59.78

RANK	HEAT 4	TIME
1.	Debbie Flintoff-King (AUS)	54.99
2.	Cristina Pérez (ESP)	55.29
3.	Sally Gunnell (GBR)	55.44
4.	Irmgard Trojer (ITA)	55.74
5.	Leslie Maxie (USA)	57.60
6.	Barbara Johnson (IRL)	58.61
7.	Fen-Hwa Chang (TPE)	1:00.16

RANK	HEAT 5	TIME
1.	Gudrun Abt (FRG)	55.72
2.	Schowonda Williams (USA)	55.98
3.	Chantal Beaugeant (FRA)	56.03
4.	Sally Hamilton-Fleming (AUS)	56.08
5.	Liliana Chalá (ECU)	57.15
6.	Semra Aksu (TUR)	57.20
7.	Simone Laidlow (GBR)	59.28

See also

• 1984 Women's Olympic 400m Hurdles (Los Angeles)
• 1986 Women's European Championships 400m Hurdles (Stuttgart)
• 1987 Women's World Championships 400m Hurdles (Rome)
• 1990 Women's European Championships 400m Hurdles (Split)
• 1991 Women's World Championships 400m Hurdles (Tokyo)
• 1992 Women's Olympic 400m Hurdles (Barcelona)

References

• Template:En icon Official Report