| | Event type

400 metres, Men

Date	26 – 29 July 1996
Status	Olympic
Location	Centennial Olympic Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Participants	62 from 42 countries

Michael Johnson was the favorite, having won the 1993 and 1995 World Championships, Harry )Butch) Reynolds finishing second both times. They were two-thirds of the American team, with Alvin Harrison taking the third spot. Johnson’s had rarely lost at 400 meters since 1989. Running in the final wearing gold shoes, Johnson defeated Britain’s Roger Black, 1986 and 1990 European Champion, by almost 10 metres, the largest margin of victory in the event since the 1896 Olympics, when things were a bit different. Reynolds was injured in Atlanta and did not finish his semi-final.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	QF	SF	Final
1	2370	Michael Johnson	USA	45.80 (2 h5)	44.62 (1 h3)	44.59 (1 h2)	43.49 (1)	Gold	OR
2	1469	Roger Black	GBR	45.28 (1 h1)	44.72 (1 h2)	44.69 (1 h1)	44.41 (2)	Silver
3	2300	Davis Kamoga	UGA	45.56 (3 h8)	44.82 (3 h3)	44.85 (3 h2)	44.53 (3)	Bronze
4	2357	Alvin Harrison	USA	44.69 (1 h3)	44.79 (1 h4)	45.04 (4 h1)	44.62 (4)
5	1512	Iwan Thomas	GBR	45.22 (2 h8)	45.04 (2 h4)	45.01 (4 h2)	44.70 (5)
6	1745	Roxbert Martin	JAM	46.01 (4 h8)	44.74 (2 h3)	44.81 (2 h2)	44.83 (6)
7	1737	Davian Clarke	JAM	45.54 (1 h2)	44.98 (2 h1)	44.87 (2 h1)	44.99 (7)
AC r4/4	2095	Ibrahim Ismail	QAT	45.61 (2 h3)	44.96 (2 h2)	45.02 (3 h1)	– (DNF)
5 h1 r3/4	1805	Samson Kitur	KEN	45.39 (2 h7)	45.03 (3 h1)	45.17 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r3/4	1983	Sunday Bada	NGR	45.19 (1 h8)	44.88 (1 h1)	45.30 (5 h2)	–
6 h1 r3/4	2234	Štefan Balošák	SVK	45.86 (3 h1)	45.32 (4 h2)	45.59 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r3/4	2429	Eswort Coombs	VIN	45.84 (1 h4)	45.43 (4 h4)	45.36 (6 h2)	–
7 h1 r3/4	1119	Troy Douglas	BER	45.61 (3 h2)	45.26 (4 h1)	46.33 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r3/4	1746	Michael McDonald	JAM	45.50 (3 h7)	45.26 (3 h4)	45.48 (7 h2)	–
8 h2 r3/4	2289	Neil de Silva	TTO	45.34 (2 h1)	45.02 (4 h3)	45.56 (8 h2)	–
AC h1 r3/4	2392	Butch Reynolds	USA	45.42 (1 h6)	45.21 (3 h2)	– (DNF h1)	–
5 h1 r2/4	2114	Arnaud Malherbe	RSA	45.75 (2 h6)	45.26 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r2/4	1928	Alejandro Cárdenas	MEX	45.85 (3 h5)	45.33 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r2/4	1985	Clement Chukwu	NGR	45.18 (1 h7)	45.24 (5 h3)	–	–
5 h4 r2/4	1448	Jean-Louis Rapnouil	FRA	45.93 (2 h4)	45.74 (5 h4)	–	–
6 h1 r2/4	2452	Tawanda Chiwira	ZIM	45.89 (3 h6)	45.38 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r2/4	2119	Bobang Phiri	RSA	45.94 (4 h5)	45.51 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r2/4	1494	Du'aine Ladejo	GBR	46.27 (3 h4)	45.62 (6 h3)	–	–
6 h4 r2/4	2116	Hendrick Mokganyetsi	RSA	45.89 (4 h7)	46.48 (6 h4)	–	–
7 h1 r2/4	2229	Mathias Rusterholz	SUI	45.92 (4 h6)	45.72 (7 h1)	–	–
7 h2 r2/4	1170	Sanderlei Parrela	BRA	45.60 (2 h2)	45.72 (7 h2)	–	–
7 h3 r2/4	2213	Sugath Thilakaratne	SRI	45.79 (1 h5)	45.78 (7 h3)	–	–
8 h1 r2/4	2056	Piotr Rysiukiewicz	POL	46.07 (5 h2)	46.19 (8 h1)	–	–
8 h2 r2/4	1811	Kennedy Ochieng	KEN	45.99 (5 h5)	45.72 (8 h2)	–	–
8 h3 r2/4	1046	Paul Greene	AUS	46.12 (3 h3)	46.22 (8 h3)	–	–
AC h4 r2/4	1992	Jude Monye	NGR	46.10 (4 h1)	– (DNF h4)	–	–
4 h2 r1/4	1794	Charles Gitonga	KEN	45.62 (4 h2)	– (DNS h4)	–	–
4 h3 r1/4	1767	Shigekazu Omori	JPN	46.30 (4 h3)	–	–	–
4 h4 r1/4	1087	Troy McIntosh	BAH	46.42 (4 h4)	–	–	–
5 h1 r1/4	1050	Michael Joubert	AUS	46.30 (5 h1)	–	–	–
5 h3 r1/4	2221	Laurent Clerc	SUI	46.42 (5 h3)	–	–	–
5 h4 r1/4	1177	Valdinei da Silva	BRA	46.61 (5 h4)	–	–	–
5 h6 r1/4	1460	Dawda Jallow	GAM	46.73 (5 h6)	–	–	–
5 h7 r1/4	1163	Osmar dos Santos	BRA	46.16 (5 h7)	–	–	–
5 h8 r1/4	1051	Mark Ladbrook	AUS	46.28 (5 h8)	–	–	–
6 h1 r1/4	2278	Kossi Akoto	TOG	46.94 (6 h1)	–	–	–
6 h2 r1/4	1839	Mohamed Hamed Al-Bishi	KSA	46.82 (6 h2)	–	–	–
6 h3 r1/4	1834	Son Ju-Il	KOR	46.74 (6 h3)	–	–	–
6 h4 r1/4	1633	Richard Jones	GUY	46.99 (6 h4)	–	–	–
6 h5 r1/4	1292	Evripidis Dimosthenous	CYP	46.76 (6 h5)	–	–	–
6 h6 r1/4	1668	Eugene Farrell	IRL	47.18 (6 h6)	–	–	–
6 h7 r1/4	2290	Robert Guy	TTO	46.80 (6 h7)	–	–	–
6 h8 r1/4	1089	Carl Oliver	BAH	47.41 (6 h8)	–	–	–
7 h2 r1/4	1880	Ivan Jean-Marie	LCA	47.13 (7 h2)	–	–	–
7 h3 r1/4	2039	Subul Babo	PNG	48.15 (7 h3)	–	–	–
7 h4 r1/4	1885	Mpho Morobe	LES	47.54 (7 h4)	–	–	–
7 h5 r1/4	2174	Emmanuel Rubayiza	RWA	49.20 (7 h5)	–	–	–
7 h6 r1/4	1525	Casimiro Asumu Nze	GEQ	50.14 (7 h6)	–	–	–
7 h7 r1/4	1189	Martial Biguet	CAF	48.92 (7 h7)	–	–	–
7 h8 r1/4	1218	Kimitene Biyago	CHA	48.88 (7 h8)	–	–	–
8 h2 r1/4	1255	Hassan Abdou	COM	50.17 (8 h2)	–	–	–
8 h4 r1/4	1924	Mohamed Amir	MDV	49.67 (8 h4)	–	–	–
8 h7 r1/4	2438	Anwar Mohamed Ali	YEM	50.81 (8 h7)	–	–	–
AC h1 r1/4	1010	Amar Hecini	ALG	– (DQ h1)	–	–	–
AC h1 r1/4	1869	Moustafa Abdel Naser	LBA	– (DQ h1)	–	–	–
AC h5 r1/4	2301	Francis Ogola	UGA	– (DNF h5)	–	–	–
AC h6 r1/4	1590	Ibrahim Hassan	GHA	– (DNF h6)	–	–	–
DNS	1186	Ibrahim Ouédraogo	BUR	– (DNS h8)	–	–	–
DNS	1141	Justice Dipeba	BOT	– (DNS h3)	–	–	–

Round One (26 July 1996)

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

Heat #1 (19:00)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	3	Roger Black	GBR	45.28	0.250	Q
2	2	Neil de Silva	TTO	45.34	0.278	Q
3	1	Štefan Balošák	SVK	45.86	0.241	Q
4	6	Jude Monye	NGR	46.10	0.417	q
5	7	Michael Joubert	AUS	46.30	0.338
6	5	Kossi Akoto	TOG	46.94	0.306
DQ	8	Moustafa Abdel Naser	LBA	–	[0.378]
DQ	4	Amar Hecini	ALG	–	[0.284]

Heat #2 (19:05)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	5	Davian Clarke	JAM	45.54	0.325	Q
2	7	Sanderlei Parrela	BRA	45.60	0.382	Q
3	1	Troy Douglas	BER	45.61	0.168	Q
4	6	Charles Gitonga	KEN	45.62	0.291	q
5	2	Piotr Rysiukiewicz	POL	46.07	0.244	q
6	3	Mohamed Hamed Al-Bishi	KSA	46.82	0.261
7	8	Ivan Jean-Marie	LCA	47.13	0.419
8	4	Hassan Abdou	COM	50.17	0.267

Heat #3 (19:10)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	6	Alvin Harrison	USA	44.69	0.343	Q
2	5	Ibrahim Ismail	QAT	45.61	0.356	Q
3	2	Paul Greene	AUS	46.12	0.192	Q
4	8	Shigekazu Omori	JPN	46.30	0.417
5	3	Laurent Clerc	SUI	46.42	0.255
6	4	Son Ju-Il	KOR	46.74	0.263
7	7	Subul Babo	PNG	48.15	0.339
DNS	1	Justice Dipeba	BOT	–	–

Heat #4 (19:15)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	6	Eswort Coombs	VIN	45.84	0.270	Q
2	5	Jean-Louis Rapnouil	FRA	45.93	0.305	Q
3	3	Du'aine Ladejo	GBR	46.27	0.216	Q
4	2	Troy McIntosh	BAH	46.42	0.227
5	7	Valdinei da Silva	BRA	46.61	0.377
6	1	Richard Jones	GUY	46.99	0.199
7	4	Mpho Morobe	LES	47.54	0.325
8	8	Mohamed Amir	MDV	49.67	0.307

Heat #5 (19:20)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	8	Sugath Thilakaratne	SRI	45.79	0.303	Q
2	3	Michael Johnson	USA	45.80	0.197	Q
3	6	Alejandro Cárdenas	MEX	45.85	0.305	Q
4	1	Bobang Phiri	RSA	45.94	0.212	q
5	5	Kennedy Ochieng	KEN	45.99	0.313	q
6	2	Evripidis Dimosthenous	CYP	46.76	0.211		1
7	4	Emmanuel Rubayiza	RWA	49.20	0.345
DNF	7	Francis Ogola	UGA	–	0.337

Heat #6 (19:25)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	7	Butch Reynolds	USA	45.42	0.257	Q
2	3	Arnaud Malherbe	RSA	45.75	0.228	Q
3	6	Tawanda Chiwira	ZIM	45.89	0.364	Q
4	5	Mathias Rusterholz	SUI	45.92	0.240	q
5	1	Dawda Jallow	GAM	46.73	0.258
6	4	Eugene Farrell	IRL	47.18	0.262
7	2	Casimiro Asumu Nze	GEQ	50.14	0.220
DNF	8	Ibrahim Hassan	GHA	–	0.343

Heat #7 (19:30)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	1	Clement Chukwu	NGR	45.18	0.179	Q
2	8	Samson Kitur	KEN	45.39	0.341	Q
3	5	Michael McDonald	JAM	45.50	0.331	Q
4	6	Hendrick Mokganyetsi	RSA	45.89	0.334	q
5	4	Osmar dos Santos	BRA	46.16	0.300
6	2	Robert Guy	TTO	46.80	0.260
7	7	Martial Biguet	CAF	48.92	0.335
8	3	Anwar Mohamed Ali	YEM	50.81	0.268

Heat #8 (19:35)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	2	Sunday Bada	NGR	45.19	0.236	Q
2	7	Iwan Thomas	GBR	45.22	0.328	Q
3	1	Davis Kamoga	UGA	45.56	0.208	Q	2
4	5	Roxbert Martin	JAM	46.01	0.306	q
5	8	Mark Ladbrook	AUS	46.28	0.256
6	6	Carl Oliver	BAH	47.41	0.340
7	3	Kimitene Biyago	CHA	48.88	0.353
DNS	4	Ibrahim Ouédraogo	BUR	–	–

Quarter-Finals (27 July 1996)

Top four in each heat advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat #1 (19:55)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	3	Sunday Bada	NGR	44.88	0.269	Q
2	4	Davian Clarke	JAM	44.98	0.294	Q
3	6	Samson Kitur	KEN	45.03	0.246	Q
4	2	Troy Douglas	BER	45.26	0.188	Q
5	5	Arnaud Malherbe	RSA	45.26	0.240
6	7	Tawanda Chiwira	ZIM	45.38	0.342
7	8	Mathias Rusterholz	SUI	45.72	0.199
8	1	Piotr Rysiukiewicz	POL	46.19	0.261

Heat #2 (20:00)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	3	Roger Black	GBR	44.72	0.165	Q
2	4	Ibrahim Ismail	QAT	44.96	0.301	Q
3	5	Butch Reynolds	USA	45.21	0.227	Q
4	8	Štefan Balošák	SVK	45.32	0.220	Q
5	7	Alejandro Cárdenas	MEX	45.33	0.181
6	1	Bobang Phiri	RSA	45.51	0.195
7	6	Sanderlei Parrela	BRA	45.72	0.299
8	2	Kennedy Ochieng	KEN	45.72	0.194

Heat #3 (20:05)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	6	Michael Johnson	USA	44.62	0.234	Q
2	7	Roxbert Martin	JAM	44.74	0.175	Q
3	8	Davis Kamoga	UGA	44.82	0.249	Q
4	4	Neil de Silva	TTO	45.02	0.283	Q
5	3	Clement Chukwu	NGR	45.24	0.189
6	2	Du'aine Ladejo	GBR	45.62	0.179
7	5	Sugath Thilakaratne	SRI	45.78	0.307
8	1	Paul Greene	AUS	46.22	0.194

Heat #4 (20:10)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	4	Alvin Harrison	USA	44.79	0.291	Q
2	6	Iwan Thomas	GBR	45.04	0.176	Q
3	7	Michael McDonald	JAM	45.26	0.327	Q
4	5	Eswort Coombs	VIN	45.43	0.284	Q
5	3	Jean-Louis Rapnouil	FRA	45.74	0.244
6	1	Hendrick Mokganyetsi	RSA	46.48	0.242
DNF	2	Jude Monye	NGR	–	0.315
DNS	8	Charles Gitonga	KEN	–	–

Semi-Finals (28 July 1996)

Top four in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat #1 (20:26)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	4	Roger Black	GBR	44.69	0.188	Q
2	3	Davian Clarke	JAM	44.87	0.291	Q
3	6	Ibrahim Ismail	QAT	45.02	0.361	Q
4	5	Alvin Harrison	USA	45.04	0.392	Q
5	2	Samson Kitur	KEN	45.17	0.248
6	7	Štefan Balošák	SVK	45.59	0.335
7	8	Troy Douglas	BER	46.33	0.326
DNF	1	Butch Reynolds	USA	–	0.198

Heat #2 (20:32)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	5	Michael Johnson	USA	44.59	0.264	Q
2	6	Roxbert Martin	JAM	44.81	0.312	Q
3	1	Davis Kamoga	UGA	44.85	0.193	Q
4	3	Iwan Thomas	GBR	45.01	0.234	Q
5	4	Sunday Bada	NGR	45.30	0.316
6	8	Eswort Coombs	VIN	45.36	0.285
7	2	Michael McDonald	JAM	45.48	0.221
8	7	Neil de Silva	TTO	45.56	0.407

Final (29 July 1996 — 21:10)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)	Reaction Time
1	4	Michael Johnson	USA	43.49	0.254	OR
2	3	Roger Black	GBR	44.41	0.205
3	2	Davis Kamoga	UGA	44.53	0.264
4	1	Alvin Harrison	USA	44.62	0.237
5	8	Iwan Thomas	GBR	44.70	0.365
6	5	Roxbert Martin	JAM	44.83	0.283
7	6	Davian Clarke	JAM	44.99	0.348
DNF	7	Ibrahim Ismail	QAT	–	0.365