Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles explained

Event:	Men's 110 metres hurdles
Games:	2004 Summer
Venue:	Athens Olympic Stadium
Dates:	24–27 August
Competitors:	47
Nations:	34
Gold:	Liu Xiang
Goldnoc:	CHN
Silver:	Terrence Trammell
Silvernoc:	USA
Bronze:	Anier García
Bronzenoc:	CUB
Win Value:	12.91
Prev:	2000
Next:	2008

The men's 110 metre hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 24 to 27.^[1] Forty-seven athletes from 34 nations competed. The event was won by Liu Xiang of China, the nation's first medal in the event. Terrence Trammell and Anier García became the 11th and 12th men to win multiple medals in the 110 metres hurdles.

Summary

Ladji Doucouré was the leader in all of the preliminary rounds, but in the final, Liu Xiang led from the gun, running a flawless race to take the Olympic record and match Colin Jackson's world record with an identical 12.91.^[2] ^[3] Behind him, returning silver medalist Terrence Trammell had a slight lead despite touching nearly every hurdle. As a result of these errors, Staņislavs Olijars appeared to edge ahead, but Olijars hit the sixth hurdle and slowed out of contention. Coming back from an abysmal start, Doucouré became the next to edge ahead, looking like a lock for silver until he struck the final hurdle, leaving Doucouré to stumble across the finish in dead last. Trammell edged García to win his second successive silver.^[4]

Background

This was the 25th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Five finalists from 2000 returned: gold medalist Anier García of Cuba, silver medalist Terrence Trammell and fourth-place finisher (and 1996 gold medalist) Allen Johnson of the United States, seventh-place finisher Dudley Dorival of Haiti, and eighth-place finisher Robert Kronberg of Sweden. Johnson had won the last two World Championships in 2001 and 2003 (along with the 1995 and 1997 worlds). But Liu Xiang of China, who had finished third at the 2003 worlds, had a strong first half of 2004 and was favored in Athens. World runner-up Terrence Trammell of the United States was also a challenger.^[5]

Croatia, Ecuador, Estonia, Georgia, Indonesia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, and Ukraine each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 24th appearance, most of any nation (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).

Qualification

See main article: Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Qualification.

The qualification period for Athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the men's 110 metres hurdles, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 13.55 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 the race in 13.72 seconds or faster could be entered.

Competition format

The competition used the four-round format previously used in 1960 and since 1988, still using the eight-man semifinals and finals used since 1964. The "fastest loser" system, also introduced in 1964, was used in the first round.

The top four runners in each of the initial six heats automatically qualified for the second round. The next eight fastest runners from across the heats also qualified. Those 32 runners competed in 4 heats in the second round, with the top three runners from each heat and the four next fastest runners qualifying for the semifinals. There were two semifinal heats, and only the top four from each heat advanced to the final.

Records

, the existing World record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows.

Liu Xiang equalled the world record in the final, setting a new Olympic and Asian record.

The following national records were established during the competition:

Athlete	Time	Notes
align=left	Heat 1	13.18
align=left	Heat 1	13.39
align=left	Heat 1	13.46
align=left	Heat 2	13.47
align=left	Heat 4	13.44
align=left	Heat 5	13.56
align=left	Heat 6	13.44
align=left	Semifinal 1	13.17
align=left	Semifinal 2	13.06
align=left	Final	12.91	=,,

Schedule

All rounds were held on separate days for the first time since 1972.

All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

Date	Time	Round
Tuesday, 24 August 2004	09:35	Round 1
Wednesday, 25 August 2004	22:15	Quarterfinals
Thursday, 26 August 2004	21:00	Semifinals
Friday, 27 August 2004	21:30	Final

Results

Round 1

Qualification rule: The first four finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next eight fastest overall runners (q) qualified.^[6]

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	8	0.205	13.18	, NR
2	4	0.154	13.27
3	5	0.128	13.39	, NR
4	3	0.162	13.43	,
5	7	0.168	13.46	, NR
6	1	0.113	13.47	,
7	2	0.178	13.83
8	6	0.157	14.02
		Wind: +1.5 m/s

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	1	0.169	13.39	,
2	4	0.176	13.41
3	8	0.192	13.42	,
4	2	0.170	13.47	, NR
5	3	0.185	13.51
6	5	0.164	13.52
7	6	0.132	13.66	, =NR
8	7	0.166	13.87
		Wind: +1.8 m/s

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	0.128	13.27
2	6	0.149	13.35	,
3	7	0.179	13.47
4	5	0.142	13.54
5	2	0.162	13.56	,
6	1	0.163	13.80
7	3	0.179	13.96
8	8	0.177	14.01
		Wind: +1.3 m/s

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	0.193	13.44	,
2	5	0.157	13.45	, =
3	2	0.176	13.45
4	1	0.150	13.64
5	7	0.186	13.65
6	8	0.156	13.68
7	6	0.176	13.85
8	3	0.188	14.11	NR
		Wind: -1.3 m/s

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	2	0.158	13.24	,
2	4	0.162	13.39
3	7	0.160	13.53	,
4	6	0.184	13.56	, NR
5	1	0.160	13.59
6	8	0.168	13.72
7	3	0.148	13.74
8	5	0.155	13.75
		Wind: +0.8 m/s

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6		0.160	13.30	, =
2	6		0.138	13.39	,
3	6		0.167	13.44	, NR
4	6		0.151	13.48	, =
5	6		0.181	13.76
6	6		0.150	13.77
7	6		0.134	13.81
data-sort-value=8	—	6
			Wind: +1.2 m/s

Quarterfinals

Qualification rule: The first three finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next four fastest overall runners (q) qualified.^[7]

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	3		0.198	13.23
2	4		0.149	13.30	,
3	8		0.154	13.39	,
4	5		0.155	13.50
5	1		0.151	13.53
6	7		0.210	13.64
7	6		0.163	13.67
data-sort-value=8	—	2
			Wind: +1.5 m/s

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Lane	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	5		0.169	13.26
2	4		0.159	13.28
3	3		0.161	13.44
4	2		0.154	13.48
5	8		0.128	13.53	=
6	7		0.227	13.85
—	6		0.190	data-sort-value=99.99
1		0.238	data-sort-value=99.99
			Wind: +1.5 m/s

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	0.202	13.27
2	4	0.200	13.29	,
3	7	0.220	13.34
4	3	0.195	13.47
5	2	0.165	13.54
6	1	0.157	13.54
7	8	0.130	13.64
8	5	0.176	14.03
		Wind: +1.5 m/s

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	0.140	13.33	,
2	3	0.157	13.39	, =
3	6	0.157	13.39
4	1	0.137	13.46	,
5	7	0.190	13.55
6	2	0.156	13.62
7	5	0.147	13.70
8	8	0.203	13.77
		Wind: +1.5 m/s

Semifinals

Qualification rule: The first four finishers in each heat (Q) moved on to the final.^[8]

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	7	0.162	13.17	, NR
2	4	0.151	13.18
3	6	0.151	13.20	,
4	3	0.150	13.23	,
5	8	0.157	13.30
6	5	0.174	13.37
7	1	0.124	13.42
8	2	0.196	13.57
		Wind: -0.1 m/s

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	5		0.200	13.06	, NR
2	2		0.165	13.17
3	6		0.172	13.30
4	3		0.154	13.34
5	4		0.162	13.39	=
6	7		0.143	13.47
7	8		0.144	13.52
data-sort-value=8	—	1
			Wind: +0.0 m/s

Final

^[9]

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
	4	0.139	12.91	,, NR
	6	0.154	13.18
	7	0.169	13.20
4	5	0.164	13.21
5	2	0.174	13.21
6	1	0.139	13.48
7	8	0.169	13.49
8	3	0.204	13.76
		Wind: +0.3 m/s

External links

IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage

Notes and References

Web site: Athletics at the 2004 Athens Summer Games: Men's 110 metres Hurdles . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417172708/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/2004/ATH/mens-110-metres-hurdles.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 1 October 2017 . sports-reference.com.
News: Xiang equals hurdles record. BBC Sport. 27 August 2004. 14 October 2015.
News: Brave Liu Xiang did it! Chinese fans jubilant. Xinhua. China Daily. 28 August 2004. 14 October 2015.
News: Mack sets Olympic record in 1-2 U.S. finish. USA Today. 27 August 2004. 14 October 2015.
Web site: 110 metres Hurdles, Men . Olympedia . 21 August 2020.
Web site: IAAF Athens 2004: Men's 110m Hurdles Heats. Athens 2004. IAAF. 13 October 2015.
Web site: IAAF Athens 2004: Men's 110m Hurdles Quarterfinals. Athens 2004. IAAF. 13 October 2015.
Web site: IAAF Athens 2004: Men's 110m Hurdles Semifinals. Athens 2004. IAAF. 13 October 2015.
Web site: IAAF Athens 2004: Men's 110m Hurdles Final. Athens 2004. IAAF. 13 October 2015.