| | Event type

400 metres, Men

Date	18 – 21 August 2008
Status	Olympic
Location	Beijing Guojia Tiyuchang, Beijing Aolinpike Gongyuan, Beijing
Participants	55 from 40 countries

Since 2004 the world’s best one-lap runner was Jeremy Wariner. He was the defending gold medalist and had won the World Championships in 2005 and 2007. But his 2008 season had shown some chinks in his armor. Early in the year he split from his long-time coach, Clyde Hart, and track experts thought this might hurt him. Whether it had an effect or not could not be known for sure, but LaShawn Merritt, who Wariner had defeated 11 straight times over the past 3 years, moved up to challenge his title as the best 400 runner. Early in the year, Merritt finally defeated Wariner in Berlin, and he repeated that at the US Olympic Trials. They were the two heavy favorites. In the final, they were close coming to the final straight, but Merritt had far more left, pulling away to win easily by almost a full second, the largest margin of victory at the Olympics in this event since 1896. Wariner did shut down some in the straight but held on for the silver medal. The bronze medal looked like it would go to Bahamian Chris Brown. But America’s David Neville closed quickly down the stretch and dove at the line, edging Brown and completing an American sweep of the medals.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	3205	LaShawn Merritt	USA	44.96 (1 h5)	44.12 (1 h3)	43.75 (1)	Gold
2	3253	Jeremy Wariner	USA	45.23 (1 h7)	44.15 (1 h1)	44.74 (2)	Silver
3	3209	David Neville	USA	45.22 (2 h1)	44.91 (2 h2)	44.80 (3)	Bronze
4	1095	Chris Brown	BAH	44.79 (1 h2)	44.59 (2 h1)	44.84 (4)
5	1733	Leslie Djhone	FRA	45.12 (1 h1)	44.79 (1 h2)	45.11 (5)
6	1830	Martyn Rooney	GBR	45.00 (1 h4)	44.60 (2 h3)	45.12 (6)
7	3023	Renny Quow	TTO	45.13 (2 h6)	44.82 (4 h3)	45.22 (7)
8	2955	Johan Wissman	SWE	44.81 (3 h2)	44.64 (3 h3)	45.39 (8)
3 h1 r2/3	1124	Kévin Borlée	BEL	45.43 (4 h1)	44.88 (3 h1)	–
3 h2 r2/3	1049	Joel Milburn	AUS	44.80 (2 h2)	45.06 (3 h2)	–
4 h1 r2/3	1436	Nery Brenes	CRC	45.36 (1 h3)	44.94 (4 h1)	–
4 h2 r2/3	2166	Ricardo Chambers	JAM	45.22 (3 h4)	45.09 (4 h2)	–
5 h1 r2/3	2504	Saul Weigopwa	NGR	45.19 (2 h5)	45.02 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r2/3	1123	Jonathan Borlée	BEL	45.25 (4 h5)	45.11 (5 h2)	–
5 h3 r2/3	1412	Gary Kikaya	COD	44.89 (4 h2)	44.94 (5 h3)	–
6 h1 r2/3	1486	William Collazo	CUB	45.37 (3 h1)	45.06 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r2/3	2505	Godday James	NGR	45.49 (2 h3)	45.24 (6 h2)	–
6 h3 r2/3	1096	Michael Mathieu	BAH	45.17 (3 h6)	45.56 (6 h3)	–
7 h1 r2/3	2065	Tabarie Henry	ISV	45.36 (2 h7)	45.19 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r2/3	1098	Andretti Bain	BAH	45.96 (3 h3)	45.52 (7 h2)	–
7 h3 r2/3	1059	Sean Wroe	AUS	45.17 (2 h4)	45.56 (7 h3)	–
8 h1 r2/3	2097	Claudio Licciardello	ITA	45.25 (3 h5)	45.64 (8 h1)	–
8 h2 r2/3	1838	Andrew Steele	GBR	44.94 (1 h6)	45.59 (8 h2)	–
8 h3 r2/3	1134	Cédric Van Branteghem	BEL	45.54 (3 h7)	45.81 (8 h3)	–
4 h3 r1/3	1684	Niko Verekauta	FIJ	46.32 (4 h3)	–	–
4 h4 r1/3	1543	Erison Hurtault	DMA	46.10 (4 h4)	–	–
4 h6 r1/3	2149	Michael Blackwood	JAM	45.56 (4 h6)	–	–
4 h7 r1/3	2052	David Gillick	IRL	45.83 (4 h7)	–	–
5 h1 r1/3	3316	Talkmore Nyongani	ZIM	45.89 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r1/3	2179	Sanjay Ayre	JAM	45.66 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r1/3	1226	Fernando de Almeida	BRA	46.60 (5 h3)	–	–
5 h4 r1/3	3131	Andrés Silva	URU	46.34 (5 h4)	–	–
5 h5 r1/3	3022	Ato Modibo	TTO	45.63 (5 h5)	–	–
5 h6 r1/3	1289	Tyler Christopher	CAN	45.67 (5 h6)	–	–
5 h7 r1/3	2770	Maksim Dyldin	RUS	46.03 (5 h7)	–	–
6 h1 r1/3	2474	Éric Milazar	MRI	46.06 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r1/3	1546	Arismendy Peguero	DOM	46.28 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r1/3	3320	Lewis Banda	ZIM	46.76 (6 h3)	–	–
6 h4 r1/3	1513	Rudolf Götz	CZE	46.38 (6 h4)	–	–
6 h5 r1/3	1967	Alleyne Francique	GRN	46.15 (6 h5)	–	–
6 h6 r1/3	1969	Joel Phillip	GRN	46.30 (6 h6)	–	–
6 h7 r1/3	3076	Mykhailo Knysh	UKR	46.28 (6 h7)	–	–
7 h1 r1/3	1203	Gakologelwang Masheto	BOT	46.29 (7 h1)	–	–
7 h2 r1/3	2891	Ivano Bucci	SMR	48.54 (7 h2)	–	–
7 h3 r1/3	2269	Vincent Mumo	KEN	46.79 (7 h3)	–	–
7 h4 r1/3	2188	Yuzo Kanemaru	JPN	46.39 (7 h4)	–	–
7 h5 r1/3	1428	Geiner Mosquera	COL	46.59 (7 h5)	–	–
7 h6 r1/3	2682	Félix Martínez	PUR	46.46 (7 h6)	–	–
7 h7 r1/3	1137	Mathieu Gnanligo	BEN	47.10 (7 h7)	–	–
8 h2 r1/3	1351	Liu Xiaosheng	CHN	53.11 (8 h2)	–	–
8 h3 r1/3	2913	Nagmeldin Ali	SUD	47.12 (8 h3)	–	–
8 h5 r1/3	2350	Siraj Williams	LBR	47.89 (8 h5)	–	–
8 h6 r1/3	2578	Daniel Dąbrowski	POL	47.83 (8 h6)	–	–
8 h7 r1/3	2908	Naiel d’Almeida	STP	49.08 (8 h7)	–	–
DQ	2768	Denis Alekseyev	RUS	[45.52] (DQ h1)	–	–		1
DNS	1199	California Molefe	BOT	– (DNS h4)	–	–

Round One (18 August 2008)

Top three in each heat and next three fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat #1 (9:00)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	4	Leslie Djhone	FRA	45.12	0.190	Q
2	5	David Neville	USA	45.22	0.189	Q
3	6	William Collazo	CUB	45.37	0.180	Q
4	8	Kévin Borlée	BEL	45.43	0.149	q
5	3	Talkmore Nyongani	ZIM	45.89	0.249
6	7	Éric Milazar	MRI	46.06	0.209
7	2	Gakologelwang Masheto	BOT	46.29	0.183
DQ	9	Denis Alekseyev	RUS	[45.52]	[0.299]		2

Heat #2 (9:08)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	6	Chris Brown	BAH	44.79	0.205	Q
2	7	Joel Milburn	AUS	44.80	0.155	Q
3	4	Johan Wissman	SWE	44.81	0.229	Q
4	5	Gary Kikaya	COD	44.89	0.184	q
5	8	Sanjay Ayre	JAM	45.66	0.177
6	9	Arismendy Peguero	DOM	46.28	0.236
7	3	Ivano Bucci	SMR	48.54	0.209
8	2	Liu Xiaosheng	CHN	53.11	0.245

Heat #3 (9:16)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	8	Nery Brenes	CRC	45.36	0.196	Q
2	3	Godday James	NGR	45.49	0.200	Q
3	9	Andretti Bain	BAH	45.96	0.225	Q
4	7	Niko Verekauta	FIJ	46.32	0.161
5	6	Fernando de Almeida	BRA	46.60	0.158
6	2	Lewis Banda	ZIM	46.76	0.244
7	4	Vincent Mumo	KEN	46.79	0.212
8	5	Nagmeldin Ali	SUD	47.12	0.247

Heat #4 (9:24)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	7	Martyn Rooney	GBR	45.00	0.207	Q
2	8	Sean Wroe	AUS	45.17	0.182	Q
3	5	Ricardo Chambers	JAM	45.22	0.211	Q
4	3	Erison Hurtault	DMA	46.10	0.246
5	9	Andrés Silva	URU	46.34	0.265
6	2	Rudolf Götz	CZE	46.38	0.157
7	6	Yuzo Kanemaru	JPN	46.39	0.225
DNS	4	California Molefe	BOT	–	–

Heat #5 (9:32)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	2	LaShawn Merritt	USA	44.96	0.214	Q
2	7	Saul Weigopwa	NGR	45.19	0.172	Q
3	8	Claudio Licciardello	ITA	45.25	0.186	Q
4	3	Jonathan Borlée	BEL	45.25	0.225	q
5	6	Ato Modibo	TTO	45.63	0.195
6	9	Alleyne Francique	GRN	46.15	0.215
7	5	Geiner Mosquera	COL	46.59	0.268
8	4	Siraj Williams	LBR	47.89	0.288

Heat #6 (9:40)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	7	Andrew Steele	GBR	44.94	0.248	Q
2	5	Renny Quow	TTO	45.13	0.266	Q
3	6	Michael Mathieu	BAH	45.17	0.193	Q
4	8	Michael Blackwood	JAM	45.56	0.204
5	2	Tyler Christopher	CAN	45.67	0.172
6	3	Joel Phillip	GRN	46.30	0.198
7	9	Félix Martínez	PUR	46.46	0.347
8	4	Daniel Dąbrowski	POL	47.83	0.260

Heat #7 (9:48)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	9	Jeremy Wariner	USA	45.23	0.253	Q
2	6	Tabarie Henry	ISV	45.36	0.165	Q
3	2	Cédric Van Branteghem	BEL	45.54	0.203	Q
4	4	David Gillick	IRL	45.83	0.275
5	5	Maksim Dyldin	RUS	46.03	0.194
6	3	Mykhailo Knysh	UKR	46.28	0.260
7	7	Mathieu Gnanligo	BEN	47.10	0.207
8	8	Naiel d’Almeida	STP	49.08	0.178

Semi-Finals (19 August 2008)

Top two in each heat and next two fastest advanced to the final.

Heat #1 (21:45)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	6	Jeremy Wariner	USA	44.15	0.224	Q
2	5	Chris Brown	BAH	44.59	0.244	Q
3	3	Kévin Borlée	BEL	44.88	0.162
4	7	Nery Brenes	CRC	44.94	0.169
5	4	Saul Weigopwa	NGR	45.02	0.168
6	2	William Collazo	CUB	45.06	0.191
7	8	Tabarie Henry	ISV	45.19	0.165
8	9	Claudio Licciardello	ITA	45.64	0.259

Heat #2 (21:52)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	6	Leslie Djhone	FRA	44.79	0.159	Q
2	4	David Neville	USA	44.91	0.190	Q
3	5	Joel Milburn	AUS	45.06	0.187
4	9	Ricardo Chambers	JAM	45.09	0.220
5	3	Jonathan Borlée	BEL	45.11	0.191
6	8	Godday James	NGR	45.24	0.185
7	2	Andretti Bain	BAH	45.52	0.196
8	7	Andrew Steele	GBR	45.59	0.216

Heat #3 (21:59)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	7	LaShawn Merritt	USA	44.12	0.187	Q
2	6	Martyn Rooney	GBR	44.60	0.126	Q
3	8	Johan Wissman	SWE	44.64	0.211	q
4	5	Renny Quow	TTO	44.82	0.204	q
5	2	Gary Kikaya	COD	44.94	0.187
6	9	Michael Mathieu	BAH	45.56	0.203
7	4	Sean Wroe	AUS	45.56	0.205
8	3	Cédric Van Branteghem	BEL	45.81	0.199

Final (21 August 2008 — 21:20)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	4	LaShawn Merritt	USA	43.75	0.318
2	7	Jeremy Wariner	USA	44.74	0.209
3	9	David Neville	USA	44.80	0.293
4	5	Chris Brown	BAH	44.84	0.231
5	6	Leslie Djhone	FRA	45.11	0.164
6	8	Martyn Rooney	GBR	45.12	0.208	3
7	2	Renny Quow	TTO	45.22	0.201
8	3	Johan Wissman	SWE	45.39	0.218