Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles explained

Event:	Men's 400 metres hurdles
Games:	2000 Summer
Venue:	Stadium Australia
Date:	24 September 2000 (quarterfinals) 25 September 2000 (semifinals) 27 September 2000 (final)
Competitors:	62
Nations:	45
Win Value:	47.50
Longnames:	yes
Gold:	Angelo Taylor
Goldnoc:	USA
Silver:	Hadi Souan Somayli
Silvernoc:	KSA
Bronze:	Llewellyn Herbert
Bronzenoc:	RSA
Prev:	1996
Next:	2004

The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 2000 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics programme were held at Stadium Australia on Sunday 24 September, Monday 25 September and Wednesday 27 September 2000.^[1] There were 62 competitors from 45 nations. The event was won by 0.03 seconds by Angelo Taylor of the United States, the nation's fifth consecutive and 17th overall victory in the event. Saudi Arabia and South Africa each earned their first medals in the men's 400 metres hurdles, as Hadi Souan Somayli took silver and Llewellyn Herbert received bronze.

Background

This was the 22nd time the event was held. It had been introduced along with the men's 200 metres hurdles in 1900, with the 200 being dropped after 1904 and the 400 being held through 1908 before being left off the 1912 programme. However, when the Olympics returned in 1920 after World War I, the men's 400 metres hurdles was back and would continue to be contested at every Games thereafter.

Four of the eight finalists from the 1996 Games returned: silver medalist Samuel Matete of Zambia, fifth-place finisher Rohan Robinson of Australia, sixth-place finisher Fabrizio Mori of Italy, and eighth-place finisher Eronilde de Araujo of Brazil. Mori had won the 1999 World Championship, but Angelo Taylor of the United States and Llewellyn Herbert of South Africa were the favorites.^[2]

Belarus, Chinese Taipei, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Namibia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 21st appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

See main article: Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Qualification.

Each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run 49.90 seconds or faster during the qualification period. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run 50.20 seconds or faster could be entered.^[3]

Competition format

The competition used the three-round format used every Games since 1908 (except the four-round competition in 1952): quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. The number of semifinals was expanded from 2 to 3. Ten sets of hurdles were set on the course. The hurdles were 3 feet (91.5 centimetres) tall and were placed 35 metres apart beginning 45 metres from the starting line, resulting in a 40 metres home stretch after the last hurdle. The 400 metres track was standard.

There were 8 quarterfinal heats with 7 or 8 athletes each. The top 2 men in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals along with the next fastest 8 overall. The 24 semifinalists were divided into 3 semifinals of 8 athletes each, with the top 2 in each semifinal and the next 2 fastest overall advancing to the 8-man final.^[2]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics.

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

Date	Time	Round
Sunday, 24 September 2000	18:15	Quarterfinals
Monday, 25 September 2000	19:45	Semifinals
Wednesday, 27 September 2000	20:35	Final

Results

All times shown are in seconds.

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	8	Llewellyn Herbert		0.171	49.25
2	7	Thomas Goller		0.154	49.32
3	3	Ruslan Mashchenko		0.255	50.01
4	4	Rohan Robinson		0.173	50.80
5	5	Willie Smith		0.156	50.89
6	6	Carlos Zbinden		0.180	51.36
7	2	Victor Houston		0.179	51.51

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	5	Fabrizio Mori		0.162	49.35
2	8	Boris Gorban		0.195	49.44
3	4	Félix Sánchez		0.142	49.70
4	6	Blair Young		0.193	49.75
5	2	Tien-Wen Chen		0.180	49.93	,
6	3	Erick Keter		0.269	50.06	,
7	1	Kazuhiko Yamazaki		0.177	50.15
8	7	Yvon Rakotoarimiandry		0.185	50.15

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	8	Angelo Taylor		0.185	49.48
2	6	Dinsdale Morgan		0.171	49.64
3	4	Ibou Faye		0.188	50.09
4	7	Arijan Raja Ratnayake		0.346	50.43
5	5	Erkinjon Isakov		0.182	50.71
6	3	Hillary Kiprotich Maritim		0.180	51.04
7	2	Sylvester Omodiale		0.189	51.06

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	8	Jiri Muzik		0.216	50.11
2	6	Eric Thomas		0.170	50.16
3	1	Periklis Iakovakis		0.165	50.20
4	4	Hideaki Kawamura		0.172	50.68
5	7	Vadim Zadoinov		0.173	51.08
6	2	Mustapha Sdad		0.216	51.39
7	3	Tom McGuirk		0.183	51.73
8	5	Lee Du-yeon		0.192	52.61

Quarterfinal 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	3	Christopher Rawlinson		0.184	51.30
2	2	Paweł Januszewski		0.163	51.40
3	7	Tibor Bedi		0.169	51.54
4	5	Kenneth Harnden		0.435	51.83
5	4	Leonid Vershinin		0.151	51.84
6	1	Darko Juricic		0.167	52.39
7	6	Zahr-el-Din El-Najem		0.160	52.70
8	8	Iliya Dzhivondov		0.279	54.36

Quarterfinal 6

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	1	Hadi Souan Somayli		0.174	49.28
2	7	James Carter		0.174	49.41
3	6	Alwyn Myburgh		0.184	49.57
4	5	Pedro Rodrigues		0.162	49.90
5	4	Anthony Borsumato		0.155	50.73
6	3	Costas Pochanis		0.244	51.20
7	8	Matthew Beckenham		0.176	51.27
8	2	Ian Weakley		0.179	52.18

Quarterfinal 7

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	1	Samuel Matete		0.184	48.98
2	5	Gennadiy Gorbenko		0.406	49.12	,
3	8	Matt Douglas		0.163	49.62
4	7	Kemel Thompson		0.241	50.40
5	3	Zid Abou Hamed		0.117	50.74
6	6	Paul Tucker		0.354	50.92
7	2	Radoslav Holubek		0.127	51.18
8	4	Mowen Boino		0.406	51.28

Quarterfinal 8

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	8	Eronilde de Araújo		0.179	50.06
2	6	Giorgio Frinolli Puzzilli		0.179	50.27
3	4	Vladislav Shiryayev		0.179	50.39
4	5	Inigo Monreal		0.502	51.32
5	7	Sinisa Pesa		0.165	52.14
6	2	Curt Young		0.164	52.46
7	3	Iain Harnden		0.287	54.01
8	1	Dai Tamesue		0.256	data-sort-value=61.81	1:01.81

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	Hadi Souan Somayli		0.316	48.14	,
2	4	Fabrizio Mori			48.40	,
3	5	Gennadiy Gorbenko		0.478	48.40	,
4	7	Paweł Januszewski		0.244	48.42	,
5	2	Eric Thomas		0.188	49.25
6	3	Thomas Goller		0.152	49.28
7	1	Pedro Rodrigues		0.163	49.48
8	8	Tien-Wen Chen		0.182	50.52

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	Llewellyn Herbert		0.153	48.38
2	3	Angelo Taylor		0.250	48.49
3	7	Ruslan Mashchenko		0.177	48.49
4	8	Blair Young		0.255	49.20
5	5	Jiri Muzik		0.277	49.23
6	6	Chris Rawlinson		0.177	49.25
7	1	Félix Sánchez		0.178	49.69
8	2	Giorgio Frinolli Puzzilli		0.242	50.10

Semifinal 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	3	James Carter		0.202	48.48
2	4	Eronilde de Araújo		0.181	48.76
3	6	Samuel Matete		0.228	48.98
4	1	Alwyn Myburgh		0.202	49.25
5	5	Boris Gorban		0.454	49.29
6	8	Matt Douglas		0.177	49.53
7	2	Dinsdale Morgan		0.166	50.23
8	7	Erick Keter		0.202	51.25

Final

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
	1	Angelo Taylor		0.179	47.50
	4	Hadi Souan Somayli		0.437	47.53
	6	Llewellyn Herbert		0.169	47.81
4	5	James Carter		0.421	48.04
5	8	Eronilde de Araújo		0.190	48.34
6	2	Paweł Januszewski		0.149	48.44
7	3	Fabrizio Mori		0.198	48.78
8	7	Gennadiy Gorbenko		0.395	49.01

Results summary

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final	Notes
	Angelo Taylor		49.48	48.49	47.50
	Hadi Souan Somayli		49.28	48.14	47.53
	Llewellyn Herbert		49.25	48.38	47.81
4	James Carter		49.41	48.48	48.04
5	Eronilde de Araújo		50.06	48.76	48.34
6	Paweł Januszewski		51.40	48.42	48.44
7	Fabrizio Mori		49.35	48.40	48.78
8	Gennadiy Gorbenko		49.12	48.80	49.01
9	Ruslan Mashchenko		50.01	48.94	Did not advance
10	Samuel Matete		49.98	48.98
11	Blair Young		49.75	49.20
12	Jiri Muzik		50.11	49.23
13	Alwyn Myburgh		49.57	49.25
	Chris Rawlinson		51.30	49.25
	Eric Thomas		50.16	49.25
16	Thomas Goller		49.32	49.28
17	Boris Gorban		49.44	49.29
18	Pedro Rodrigues		49.90	49.48
19	Matt Douglas		49.62	49.53
20	Félix Sánchez		49.70	49.69
21	Giorgio Frinolli Puzzilli		50.27	50.10
22	Dinsdale Morgan		49.64	50.23
23	Tien-Wen Chen		49.93	50.52
24	Erick Keter		50.06	51.25
25	Ibou Faye		50.09	Did not advance
26	Yvon Rakotoarimiandry		50.15
Kazuhiko Yamazaki		50.15
28	Periklis Iakovakis		50.20
29	Vladislav Shiryayev		50.39
30	Kemel Thompson		50.40
31	Arijan Raja Ratnayake		50.43
32	Hideaki Kawamura		50.68
33	Erkinjon Isakov		50.71
34	Anthony Borsumato		50.73
35	Zid Abou Hamed		50.74
36	Rohan Robinson		50.80
37	Willie Smith		50.89
38	Paul Tucker		50.92
39	Hillary Kiprotich Maritim		51.04
40	Sylvester Omodiale		51.06
41	Vadim Zadoinov		51.08
42	Radoslav Holubek		51.18
43	Costas Pochanis		51.20
44	Matthew Beckenham		51.27
45	Inigo Monreal		51.32
46	Carlos Zbinden		51.36
47	Mowen Boino		51.28
48	Mustapha Sdad		51.39
49	Victor Houston		51.51
50	Tibor Bedi		51.54
51	Tom McGuirk		51.73
52	Kenneth Harnden		51.83
53	Leonid Vershinin		51.84
54	Sinisa Pesa		52.14
55	Ian Weakley		52.18
56	Darko Juricic		52.39
57	Curt Young		52.46
58	Du-Yeon Lee		52.61
59	Zahr-Edin Al Najem		52.70
60	Iain Harnden		54.01
61	Iliya Dzhivondov		54.36
62	Dai Tamesue		data-sort-value=61.81	1:01.81

External links

Official Report of the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics

Notes and References

Web site: Athletics at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games: Men's 400 metres Hurdles . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417175300/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/2000/ATH/mens-400-metres-hurdles.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 8 October 2017 . Sports Reference.
Web site: 400 metres Hurdles, Men . Olympedia . 20 January 2021.
http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/images/stories/tfn_pdfs/ogqualifying_standards.pdf{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}