Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres explained

Event:	Men's 400 metres
Games:	1992 Summer
Venue:	Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc
Dates:	1 August 1992 (heats) 2 August 1992 (quarter-finals) 3 August 1992 (semi-finals) 5 August 1992 (final)
Competitors:	69
Nations:	52
Win Value:	43.50
Longnames:	yes
Gold:	Quincy Watts
Goldnoc:	USA
Silver:	Steve Lewis
Silvernoc:	USA
Bronze:	Samson Kitur
Bronzenoc:	KEN
Prev:	1988
Next:	1996

The men's 400 metres was an event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total number of 68 participating athletes from 52 nations, with nine qualifying heats.^{[1] [2]} The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Quincy Watts of the United States, the third in what would ultimately be seven consecutive American victories stretching from 1984 to 2008 and the 15th overall title in the event by the United States. Steve Lewis became the third man (and first American) to win a second medal in the event. Samson Kitur earned Kenya's first medal in the men's 400 metres since 1972.

In heat 1 of the semifinal round, Derek Redmond tore his hamstring 250 meters to the finish line and was disqualified due to outside assistance from his father Jim. Despite the results, the crowd gave him a standing ovation, and became as one of the well-remembered moments in Olympic's history.

In heat 2 of the semifinal round, Quincy Watts ran the number 2 time in history, 43.71, only surpassed by the world record held by Butch Reynolds. At those trials, Danny Everett had run the previous number time in history 43.81, while Reynolds did not qualify. In heat 2, Everett suffered a foot injury and hobbled home. In the final, Watts again improved the number 2 time in history while breaking the Olympic Record with his 43.50 win.^[3]

Background

This was the 22nd appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Defending gold medalist Steve Lewis and bronze medalist Danny Everett of the United States, but Quincy Watts beat silver medalist Butch Reynolds at the U.S. Olympic trials to take the third spot. Roger Black of Great Britain had taken silver at the 1991 world championship.^[2]

Angola, the Central African Republic, Costa Rica, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritania, and Qatar appeared in this event for the first time. The Unified Team, consisting of some former Soviet republics, competed in the only Summer Games the Unified Team existed. One Yugoslav athlete competed as an "Independent Olympic Participant." The United States made its 21st appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format

The competition retained the basic four-round format from 1920. The "fastest loser" system, introduced in 1964, was used for the first round. There were 9 first-round heats, each with 7 or 8 runners. The top three runners in each heat advanced, along with the next five fastest overall. The 32 quarterfinalists were divided into 4 quarterfinals with 8 runners each; the top four athletes in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals, with no "fastest loser" spots. The semifinals featured 2 heats of 8 runners each. The top four runners in each semifinal heat advanced, making an eight-man final.^{[2] [4]}

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Quincy Watts set two new Olympic records. He first ran 43.71 in the semifinals and improved his mark in the final to 43.50.

The following national records were established during the competition:

Schedule

Following the 1984 schedule, the event was held on four separate days, with each round being on a different day.

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Date	Time	Round
Saturday, 1 August 1992	10:00	Round 1
Sunday, 2 August 1992	19:15	Quarterfinals
Monday, 3 August 1992	19:15	Semifinals
style=background:lemonchiffon	Wednesday, 5 August 1992	style=background:lemonchiffon	20:35	style=background:lemonchiffon	Final

Results

Round 1

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	4			45.03
2	5			45.07
3	6			45.42
4	3			45.92
5	7			46.78
6	1			47.10
7	2			48.89

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	5			46.02
2	2			46.09
3	6			46.26
4	8			46.54
5	1			47.39
6	4			48.00
7	7			48.80
8	3			51.71

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	4			45.38
2	5			45.57
3	1			45.86
4	2			45.87
5	6			46.31
6	7			46.97
7	3			47.82

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	4			45.84
2	1			46.34
3	2			46.45
4	8			46.58
5	7			47.17
6	5			48.17
7	3			48.56
8	6			50.35

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3			45.68
2	4			45.79
3	8			46.12
4	6			46.51
5	1			47.28
6	2			47.68
7	7			48.98
8	5			50.83

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	7			45.41
2	5			45.96
3	6			46.21
4	2			46.88
5	4			47.32
6	3			50.90
—	1
8

Heat 7

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3			45.65
2	6			45.73
3	4			46.22
4	5			46.26
5	7			47.81
6	1			48.39
7	2			48.62

Heat 8

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3			45.14
2	6			45.38
3	4			45.92
4	5			46.13
5	7			46.67
6	1			47.75
7	2			50.91

Heat 9

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	4			45.21
2	3			45.94
3	5			45.94
4	1			46.37
5	7			46.45
6	2			47.00
7	8			47.44
8	6			48.94

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	5			44.54
2	3			44.84
3	4			45.28
4	6			45.40
5	8			45.46
6	1			45.90
7	7			45.96
8	2			46.85

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	4			45.02
2	6			45.27
3	5			45.67
4	3			45.76
5	1			46.25
6	2			46.34
7	7			46.44
8	8			46.80

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	5			44.78
2	8			44.91
3	3			45.18
4	4			45.34
5	7			45.67
6	2			46.27
—	6
1

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	5			44.66
2	3			45.06
3	6			45.27
4	4			45.38
5	2			45.55
6	1			45.86
7	7			46.21
8	8			46.49

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Redmond was injured and did not finish without assistance.

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3			44.50
2	4			44.72
3	6			45.01
4	1			45.09
5	2			45.36
6	7			45.59
7	8			45.93
data-sort-value=8	—	5

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	6			43.71	,
2	3			44.18
3	4			44.21
4	5			44.47
5	7			44.72
6	1			45.49
7	2			45.59
8	8			56.61

Final

The final was held on August 5, 1992.

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
	4			43.50
	7			44.21
	5			44.24
4	6			44.25
5	2			44.52
6	3			44.75
7	1			45.10
8	8			45.18

See also

• 1988 Men's Olympic Games 400 metres (Seoul)
• 1990 Men's European Championships 400 metres (Split)
• 1991 Men's World Championships 400 metres (Tokyo)
• 1993 Men's World Championships 400 metres (Stuttgart)
• 1994 Men's European Championships 400 metres (Helsinki)
• 1995 Men's World Championships 400 metres (Gothenburg)
• 1996 Men's Olympic Games 400 metres (Atlanta)

External links

• Official Report
• Results

Notes and References

1. Web site: Athletics at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games: Men's 400 metres . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417171633/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1992/ATH/mens-400-metres.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 5 August 2017 . sports-reference.com.
2. Web site: 400 metres, Men . Olympedia . 5 August 2020.
3. Web site: IOC - International Olympic Committee Olympics.com.
4. Official Report, vol. 5, pp. 40–41.