Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres

Men's 400 metres at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Crossing the finish line
Venue	Beijing National Stadium
Dates	18 August 21 August (final)
Competitors	56 from 40 nations
Medalists
LaShawn Merritt  United States Jeremy Wariner  United States David Neville  United States

The Men's 400 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 18–21 August at the Beijing National Stadium.

The defending champion was Jeremy Wariner, who also won both inter-Olympiad World Championships in 2005 and 2007. Warner made headlines earlier in the season when he dropped long time coach Clyde Hart, in favor of Hart's assistant Michael Ford. All season, Wariner did not show the dominance of the previous three seasons. At the Olympic Trials he was runner up to LaShawn Merritt, the World Championship silver medalist. The semi-finals showed the same two in the same position, Merritt .03 faster than Wariner.

Warner started fast in the final, TV cameras focusing on his gain in lane 7, catching Martyn Rooney to his outside making up the stagger before the 200 mark. Further outside but more difficult to calculate, David Neville was also out fast, while Merritt seemed to be about even relative to the stagger vs Chris Brown in lanes 4 and 5. Around the final turn Merritt separated form the others and it was clear the three Americans were ahead, with Neville in first as the turn was ending. Once they hit the straightaway, it was Merritt who had the speed, sprinting away with a high knee action that increased his gap over Wariner and Neville. Warner had no answer, Neville looked depleted and was holding on for dear life, while Brown was steadily gaining. Merritt sped away to a personal best 43.75, Wariner gave up the chase and jogged across the finish line barely ahead of Brown, who looked like he had passed Neville. In the last two steps, Neville desperately leaned into a headlong dive across the finish line, his hands technically crossing the line ahead of Wariner. But its the torso that counts and Neville's body crossed the line in third, .04 ahead of Brown and .06 behind Wariner. Merritt had gained just shy of a full second on Wariner over the last 90 metres for the win. Neville's dive completed an American sweep of the event. Four years later, no Americans even made the final.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

World record	Michael Johnson (USA)	43.18 s	Seville, Spain	26 August 1999
Olympic record	Michael Johnson (USA)	43.49 s	Atlanta, USA	29 July 1996

No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

Qualification

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was able to enter up to three entrants providing they had met the A qualifying standard (45.55) in the qualifying period (1 January 2007 to 23 July 2008). NOCs were also permitted to enter one athlete providing he had met the B standard (45.95) in the same qualifying period.

Results

Round 1

The first round was held on 18 August. The first three runners of each heat (Q) plus the next three overall fastest runners (q) qualified for the semifinals.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes	React
1	4	Leslie Djhone	France	45.12	Q	0.190
2	5	David Neville	United States	45.22	Q	0.189
3	6	William Collazo	Cuba	45.37	Q, SB	0.180
4	8	Kévin Borlée	Belgium	45.43	q	0.149
5	9	Denis Alekseyev	Russia	45.52		0.299
6	3	Young Talkmore Nyongani	Zimbabwe	45.89		0.249
7	7	Eric Milazar	Mauritius	46.06		0.209
8	2	Gakologelwang Masheto	Botswana	46.29	SB	0.183

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes	React
1	6	Chris Brown	Bahamas	44.79	Q	0.205
2	7	Joel Milburn	Australia	44.80	Q, PB	0.155
3	4	Johan Wissman	Sweden	44.81	Q, SB	0.229
4	5	Gary Kikaya	Democratic Republic of the Congo	44.89	q, SB	0.184
5	8	Sanjay Ayre	Jamaica	45.66		0.177
6	9	Arismendy Peguero	Dominican Republic	46.28		0.236
7	3	Ivano Bucci	San Marino	48.54	SB	0.209
8	2	Liu Xiaosheng	China	53.11		0.245

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes	React
1	8	Nery Brenes	Costa Rica	45.36	Q	0.196
2	3	James Godday	Nigeria	45.49	Q	0.200
3	9	Andretti Bain	Bahamas	45.96	Q	0.225
4	7	Niko Verekauta	Fiji	46.32	SB	0.161
5	6	Fernando de Almeida	Brazil	46.60		0.158
6	2	Lewis Banda	Zimbabwe	46.76		0.244
7	4	Vincent Mumo Kiilu	Kenya	46.79		0.212
8	5	Nagmeldin Ali Abubakr	Sudan	47.12		0.247

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes	React
1	7	Martyn Rooney	Great Britain	45.00	Q	0.207
2	8	Sean Wroe	Australia	45.17	Q, PB	0.182
3	5	Ricardo Chambers	Jamaica	45.22	Q	0.211
4	3	Erison Hurtault	Dominica	46.10		0.246
5	9	Andrés Silva	Uruguay	46.34		0.265
6	2	Rudolf Götz	Czech Republic	46.38		0.157
7	6	Yuzo Kanemaru	Japan	46.39		0.225
	4	California Molefe	Botswana	DNS

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes	React
1	2	LaShawn Merritt	United States	44.96	Q	0.214
2	7	Saul Weigopwa	Nigeria	45.19	Q	0.172
3	8	Claudio Licciardello	Italy	45.25	Q, PB	0.186
4	3	Jonathan Borlée	Belgium	45.25	q, PB	0.225
5	6	Ato Modibo	Trinidad and Tobago	45.63		0.195
6	9	Alleyne Francique	Grenada	46.15		0.215
7	5	Geiner Mosquera	Colombia	46.59		0.268
8	4	Siraj Williams	Liberia	47.89		0.288

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes	React
1	7	Andrew Steele	Great Britain	44.94	Q, PB	0.248
2	5	Renny Quow	Trinidad and Tobago	45.13	Q	0.266
3	6	Michael Mathieu	Bahamas	45.17	Q, PB	0.193
4	8	Michael Blackwood	Jamaica	45.56		0.204
5	2	Tyler Christopher	Canada	45.67		0.172
6	3	Joel Phillip	Grenada	46.30		0.198
7	9	Félix Martínez	Puerto Rico	46.46		0.347
8	4	Daniel Dąbrowski	Poland	47.83		0.260

Heat 7

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes	React
1	9	Jeremy Wariner	United States	45.23	Q	0.253
2	6	Tabarie Henry	Virgin Islands	45.36	Q, NR	0.165
3	2	Cedric van Branteghem	Belgium	45.54	Q	0.203
4	4	David Gillick	Ireland	45.83		0.275
5	5	Maksim Dyldin	Russia	46.03		0.194
6	3	Myhaylo Knysh	Ukraine	46.28		0.260
7	7	Mathieu Gnanligo	Benin	47.10		0.207
8	8	Naiel Santiago d'Almeida	São Tomé and Príncipe	49.08		0.178

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

19 August 2008 - 21:45

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes	React
1	6	Jeremy Wariner	United States	44.15	Q	0.224
2	5	Chris Brown	Bahamas	44.59	Q	0.244
3	6	Kévin Borlée	Belgium	44.88	NR	0.162
4	7	Nery Brenes	Costa Rica	44.94	NR	0.169
5	4	Saul Weigopwa	Nigeria	45.02	SB	0.168
6	2	William Collazo	Cuba	45.06	PB	0.191
7	8	Tabarie Henry	Virgin Islands	45.19	NR	0.165
8	2	Claudio Licciardello	Italy	45.64		0.259

Semifinal 2

19 August 2008 - 21:52

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes	React
1	6	Leslie Djhone	France	44.79	Q, SB	0.159
2	4	David Neville	United States	44.91	Q	0.190
3	5	Joel Milburn	Australia	45.06		0.187
4	9	Ricardo Chambers	Jamaica	45.09		0.220
5	3	Jonathan Borlée	Belgium	45.11	PB	0.191
6	8	James Godday	Nigeria	45.24		0.185
7	2	Andretti Bain	Bahamas	45.52		0.196
8	7	Andrew Steele	Great Britain	45.59		0.216

Semifinal 3

19 August 2008 - 21:59

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes	React
1	7	LaShawn Merritt	United States	44.12	Q	0.187
2	6	Martyn Rooney	Great Britain	44.60	Q, PB	0.126
3	8	Johan Wissman	Sweden	44.64	q, SB	0.211
4	5	Renny Quow	Trinidad and Tobago	44.82	q, PB	0.204
5	2	Gary Kikaya	Democratic Republic of the Congo	44.94		0.187
6	9	Michael Mathieu	Bahamas	45.56		0.203
7	4	Sean Wroe	Australia	45.56		0.205
8	3	Cedric van Branteghem	Belgium	45.81		0.199

Final

LaShawn Merritt won by a margin of almost a second.

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Reaction time	Notes
	4	LaShawn Merritt	United States	43.75	0.318	PB
	7	Jeremy Wariner	United States	44.74	0.209
	9	David Neville	United States	44.80	0.293
4	5	Chris Brown	Bahamas	44.84	0.231
5	6	Leslie Djhone	France	45.11	0.164
6	8	Martyn Rooney	Great Britain	45.12	0.208
7	2	Renny Quow	Trinidad and Tobago	45.22	0.201
8	3	Johan Wissman	Sweden	45.39	0.218