400 metres hurdles at the Olympics

The 400 metres hurdles at the Summer Olympics is the longest hurdling event held at the multi-sport event. The men's 400 m hurdles has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900, with a sole gap at the 1912 Summer Olympics. The women's event was added to the programme over eighty years later, at the 1984 Olympics. It is the most prestigious 400 m hurdles race at elite level.

400 metres hurdles
at the Olympic Games
The 2012 Olympic men's 400 m hurdles semi-final
Overview
SportAthletics
GenderMen and women
Years heldMen: 19001908, 19202024
Women: 19842024
Olympic record
Men45.94 Karsten Warholm (2021)
Women50.37 Sydney McLaughlin (2024)
Reigning champion
Men Rai Benjamin (USA)
Women Sydney McLaughlin (USA)

The Olympic records for the event are 45.94 seconds for men, set by Karsten Warholm in 2021, and 50.37 seconds for women, set by Sydney McLaughlin in 2024. The men's world record has been broken at the Olympics on eight occasions: 1908 (the first official IAAF record), 1920, 1932, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1992, and 2021. The women's world record had never been broken in Olympic competition prior to 2021.[1]

Edwin Moses is the most successful athlete in the event, having won two gold and one bronze medal. Glenn Davis, Angelo Taylor and Felix Sanchez have also won two Olympic 400 m hurdles titles. Morgan Taylor is the only other athlete beside Moses that has won three medals in the event. Deon Hemmings was the most successful woman, with her 1996 gold and 2000 silver medals, and was the first female athlete to win multiple medals, until Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won gold in 2021 in Tokyo and 2024 in Paris. It is relatively common for 400 m hurdles athletes to also be part of their nation's team for the 4×400 metres relay at the Olympics.

The United States is the most successful nation in the men's event. American men have swept the medals on five occasions. The American women have the highest medal total, with nine, but the nation managed to achieve its first victory only in 2016, when Dalilah Muhammad won the event. Russia and Jamaica are the only nations to win multiple women's gold medals, with two each. Great Britain is the first nation to have won a gold medal in both the men's and women's event, having three champions in total. In 2016, the United States became the second.

Medal summary

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Games Gold Silver Bronze
1900 Paris
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Walter Tewksbury
  United States
Henri Tauzin
  France
George Orton
  Canada
1904 St. Louis
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Harry Hillman
  United States
Frank Waller
  United States
George Poage
  United States
1908 London
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Charles Bacon
  United States
Harry Hillman
  United States
Jimmy Tremeer
  Great Britain
1912 Stockholm not included in the Olympic program
1920 Antwerp
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Frank Loomis
  United States
John Norton
  United States
August Desch
  United States
1924 Paris
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Morgan Taylor
  United States
Erik Wilén
  Finland
Ivan Riley
  United States
1928 Amsterdam
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David Burghley
  Great Britain
Frank Cuhel
  United States
Morgan Taylor
  United States
1932 Los Angeles
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Bob Tisdall
  Ireland
Glenn Hardin
  United States
Morgan Taylor
  United States
1936 Berlin
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Glenn Hardin
  United States
John Loaring
  Canada
Miguel White
  Philippines
1948 London
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Roy Cochran
  United States
Duncan White
  Ceylon
Rune Larsson
  Sweden
1952 Helsinki
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Charles Moore
  United States
Yuriy Lituyev
  Soviet Union
John Holland
  New Zealand
1956 Melbourne
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Glenn Davis
  United States
Eddie Southern
  United States
Josh Culbreath
  United States
1960 Rome
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Glenn Davis
  United States
Clifton Cushman
  United States
Dick Howard
  United States
1964 Tokyo
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Rex Cawley
  United States
John Cooper
  Great Britain
Salvatore Morale
  Italy
1968 Mexico City
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David Hemery
  Great Britain
Gerhard Hennige
  West Germany
John Sherwood
  Great Britain
1972 Munich
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John Akii-Bua
  Uganda
Ralph Mann
  United States
David Hemery
  Great Britain
1976 Montreal
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Edwin Moses
  United States
Michael Shine
  United States
Yevgeniy Gavrilenko
  Soviet Union
1980 Moscow
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Volker Beck
  East Germany
Vasyl Arkhypenko
  Soviet Union
Gary Oakes
  Great Britain
1984 Los Angeles
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Edwin Moses
  United States
Danny Harris
  United States
Harald Schmid
  West Germany
1988 Seoul
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André Phillips
  United States
Amadou Dia Ba
  Senegal
Edwin Moses
  United States
1992 Barcelona
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Kevin Young
  United States
Winthrop Graham
  Jamaica
Kriss Akabusi
  Great Britain
1996 Atlanta
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Derrick Adkins
  United States
Samuel Matete
  Zambia
Calvin Davis
  United States
2000 Sydney
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Angelo Taylor
  United States
Hadi Al-Somaily
  Saudi Arabia
Llewellyn Herbert
  South Africa
2004 Athens
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Félix Sánchez
  Dominican Republic
Danny McFarlane
  Jamaica
Naman Keïta
  France
2008 Beijing
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Angelo Taylor
  United States
Kerron Clement
  United States
Bershawn Jackson
  United States
2012 London
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Félix Sánchez
  Dominican Republic
Michael Tinsley
  United States
Javier Culson
  Puerto Rico
2016 Rio de Janeiro
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Kerron Clement
  United States
Boniface Mucheru Tumuti
  Kenya
Yasmani Copello
  Turkey
2020 Tokyo
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Karsten Warholm
  Norway
Rai Benjamin
  United States
Alison dos Santos
  Brazil
2024 Paris
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Rai Benjamin
  United States
Karsten Warholm
  Norway
Alison dos Santos
  Brazil

Multiple medalists

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Rank Athlete Nation Olympics Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Edwin Moses   United States (USA) 1976–1988 2 0 1 3
2 Glenn Davis   United States (USA) 1956–1960 2 0 0 2
Angelo Taylor   United States (USA) 2000–2008 2 0 0 2
Félix Sánchez   Dominican Republic (DOM) 2004–2012 2 0 0 2
5 Harry Hillman   United States (USA) 1904–1908 1 1 0 2
Glenn Hardin   United States (USA) 1932–1936 1 1 0 2
Kerron Clement   United States (USA) 2008, 2016 1 1 0 2
8 Morgan Taylor   United States (USA) 1924–1932 1 0 2 3
9 David Hemery   Great Britain (GBR) 1968–1972 1 0 1 2

Medals by country

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Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1   United States (USA) 19 13 10 42
2   Great Britain (GBR) 2 1 5 8
3   Dominican Republic (DOM) 2 0 0 2
4   East Germany (GDR) 1 0 0 1
  Ireland (IRL) 1 0 0 1
  Norway (NOR) 1 0 0 1
  Uganda (UGA) 1 0 0 1
8   Soviet Union (URS) 0 2 1 3
9   Jamaica (JAM) 0 2 0 2
10   Canada (CAN) 0 1 1 2
  France (FRA) 0 1 1 2
  West Germany (FRG) 0 1 1 2
13   Ceylon (CEY) 0 1 0 1
  Finland (FIN) 0 1 0 1
  Kenya (KEN) 0 1 0 1
  Saudi Arabia (KSA) 0 1 0 1
  Senegal (SEN) 0 1 0 1
  Zambia (ZAM) 0 1 0 1
19   Brazil (BRA) 0 0 1 1
  Italy (ITA) 0 0 1 1
  New Zealand (NZL) 0 0 1 1
  Philippines (PHI) 0 0 1 1
  Puerto Rico (PUR) 0 0 1 1
  South Africa (RSA) 0 0 1 1
  Sweden (SWE) 0 0 1 1
  Turkey (TUR) 0 0 1 1

Women

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Games Gold Silver Bronze
1984 Los Angeles
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Nawal El Moutawakel
  Morocco
Judi Brown
  United States
Cristieana Cojocaru
  Romania
1988 Seoul
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Debbie Flintoff-King
  Australia
Tatyana Ledovskaya
  Soviet Union
Ellen Fiedler
  East Germany
1992 Barcelona
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Sally Gunnell
  Great Britain
Sandra Farmer-Patrick
  United States
Janeene Vickers
  United States
1996 Atlanta
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Deon Hemmings
  Jamaica
Kim Batten
  United States
Tonja Buford-Bailey
  United States
2000 Sydney
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Irina Privalova
  Russia
Deon Hemmings
  Jamaica
Nezha Bidouane
  Morocco
2004 Athens
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Fani Halkia
  Greece
Ionela Târlea-Manolache
  Romania
Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova
  Ukraine
2008 Beijing
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Melaine Walker
  Jamaica
Sheena Tosta
  United States
Tasha Danvers
  Great Britain
2012 London
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Lashinda Demus
  United States
Zuzana Hejnová
  Czech Republic
Kaliese Spencer
  Jamaica
2016 Rio de Janeiro
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Dalilah Muhammad
  United States
Sara Petersen
  Denmark
Ashley Spencer
  United States
2020 Tokyo
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Sydney McLaughlin
  United States
Dalilah Muhammad
  United States
Femke Bol
  Netherlands
2024 Paris
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Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
  United States
Anna Cockrell
  United States
Femke Bol
  Netherlands

Multiple medalists

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Rank Athlete Nation Olympics Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone   United States (USA) 2020–2024 2 0 0 2
2 Deon Hemmings   Jamaica (JAM) 1996–2000 1 1 0 2
3 Dalilah Muhammad   United States (USA) 2016–2020 1 1 0 2
4 Femke Bol   Netherlands (NED) 2020–2024 0 0 2 2

Medalists by country

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Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1   United States (USA) 4 6 3 13
2   Jamaica (JAM) 2 1 1 4
3=   Great Britain (GBR) 1 0 1 2
3=   Morocco (MAR) 1 0 1 2
5=   Australia (AUS) 1 0 0 1
5=   Greece (GRE) 1 0 0 1
5=   Russia (RUS) 1 0 0 1
8   Romania (ROU) 0 1 1 2
9=   Czech Republic (CZE) 0 1 0 1
9=   Denmark (DEN) 0 1 0 1
9=   Soviet Union (URS) 0 1 0 1
12=   East Germany (GDR) 0 0 1 1
12=   Ukraine (UKR) 0 0 1 1
12=   Netherlands (NED) 0 0 1 1

Finishing times

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The 2024 women's final was the fastest women's 400-meter hurdles race in Olympic history collectively: five of the eight women ran under 52.7 seconds, with these times ranking among the top 11 in Olympic history.[2]

Top ten fastest Olympic times

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  • SF - Semi-Finals

References

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Participation and athlete data
Olympic record progressions
Specific
  1. ^ "12th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Berlin 2009" (PDF). Monte Carlo: IAAF Media & Public Relations Department. 2009. pp. Pages 546, 554, 664. Archived from the original (pdf) on June 29, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Women's 400m Hurdles".
  3. ^ "Men's 400m Hurdles".
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