Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles explained

Event:	Men's 110 metres hurdles
Games:	2008 Summer
Venue:	Beijing National Stadium
Dates:	August 18 (heats) August 20 (semifinals) August 21 (final)
Competitors:	43
Nations:	33
Gold:	Dayron Robles
Goldnoc:	CUB
Silver:	David Payne
Silvernoc:	USA
Bronze:	David Oliver
Bronzenoc:	USA
Win Value:	12.93
Prev:	2004
Next:	2012

The men's 110 metres hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 18 - 21 August at the Beijing National Stadium.^[1] ^[2] Forty-two athletes from 32 nations competed. The event was won by Dayron Robles of Cuba, the nation's second gold medal in the high hurdles.

Summary

Dayron Robles was the clear favorite, having set the world record just two months earlier. He didn't disappoint leading the semi-final round by almost a tenth of a second, a huge margin on this level. In the final, Robles was out first, clearly ahead by the first hurdle; he pulled away to a clear victory. The two Americans, David Payne and David Oliver were clearly separating from the others for second place, Payne slightly ahead of Oliver, with only Ladji Doucouré within a stride of Oliver. Doucouré looked to be faster, and on the final dash to the finish line was clearly gaining on Oliver, who himself was gaining on Payne to make the finish much closer. Robles more than doubled his margin from the semifinal round, almost a quarter of a second ahead of Payne.

Background

This was the 26th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Four finalists from 2004 returned: gold medalist Liu Xiang of China, silver medalist Terrence Trammell of the United States, fourth-place finisher Maurice Wignall of Jamaica, and eighth-place finisher Ladji Doucouré of France; fifth-place finisher Staņislavs Olijars of Latvia was entered but did not start. Since winning the gold in 2004, Liu had broken the world record in 2006 and won the world championship in 2007. However, Dayron Robles of Cuba had bettered Liu's mark two months before the Games and was favored over the home country hero. Further, there were rumors of Liu being injured.^[3]

Belarus and the Cayman Islands each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 25th appearance, most of any nation (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).

Qualification

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was able to enter up to three entrants providing they had met the A qualifying standard (13.55) in the qualifying period (1 January 2007 to 23 July 2008). NOCs were also permitted to enter one athlete providing he had met the B standard (13.72) in the same qualifying period.^[4] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

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 first round consisted of six heats, with 7 or 8 hurdlers each. The top four hurdlers in each heat, along with the eight next fastest overall, advanced to the quarterfinals. The 32 quarterfinalists were divided into four heats of 8 hurdlers each, with the top three in each heat, and the four next fastest overall, advancing. The 16 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals of 8 hurdlers each; the top four hurdlers in each advanced to the 8-man final.^[3] ^[5]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows:

No new world or Olympic records were set for this event. The following national records were set during the competition:

Athlete	Time
align=left	Heat 3	13.38
align=left	Heat 3	13.59
align=left	Quarterfinal 1	13.46
align=left	Quarterfinal 1	13.55

Schedule

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)

Date	Time	Round
Monday, 18 August 2008	11:10	Round 1
Tuesday, 19 August 2008	20:45	Quarterfinals
Wednesday, 20 August 2008	21:30	Semifinals
Thursday, 21 August 2008	21:40	Final

Results

Round 1

Qualification: First 4 in each heat (Q) and the next 8 fastest (q) advance to the quarterfinals.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time
1	6	0.180	13.39
2	4	0.151	13.56
3	5	0.186	13.57
4	8	0.160	13.60
5	3	0.187	13.90
6	2	0.177	14.00
7	7	0.207	14.18
		Wind: +0.3 m/s

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	0.167	13.30
2	5	0.179	13.41
3	2	0.167	13.45
4	3	0.155	13.50	,
5	8	0.128	13.65
6	4	0.159	13.69	,
7	7	0.124	13.84
		Wind: +0.1 m/s

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	0.144	13.37	,
2	2	0.156	13.38	,
3	5	0.153	13.43
4	7	0.203	13.53
5	8	0.170	13.59	,
6	6	0.140	13.72
7	9	0.165	13.78	,
8	3	0.172	14.52
		Wind: +0.2 m/s

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	2	0.152	13.42
2	6	0.155	13.52
3	8	0.174	13.58	,
4	5	0.174	13.61	,
5	7	0.196	13.86
6	3	0.163	13.89
7	4	0.168	13.96
		Wind: -1.1 m/s

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4		0.175	13.53
2	5		0.142	13.59
3	6		0.153	13.61	,
4	8		0.137	13.81
5	3		0.174	13.91
data-sort-value=6	—	2		0.242	data-sort-value=99.98
data-sort-value=7	—	7
			Wind: -0.1 m/s

Heat 6

Van der Westen false-started; Liu was clearly in discomfort during the abortive run. He withdrew rather than returning to the starting blocks.

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	8		0.149	13.49	, =
2	5		0.162	13.54
3	7		0.146	13.56
4	4		0.176	13.60
5	3		0.127	13.64	,
6	6		0.155	13.75
data-sort-value=7	—	2		data-sort-value=99.99	—	data-sort-value=99.98
			Wind: +0.1 m/s

Overall results for round 1

Rank	Heat	Time	Notes
1	2	13.30
2	3	13.37	,
3	3	13.38	,
4	1	13.39
5	2	13.41
6	4	13.42
7	3	13.43
8	2	13.45
9	6	13.49	, =
10	2	13.50	,
11	4	13.52
12	5	13.53
12	3	13.53
14	6	13.54
15	6	13.56
15	1	13.56
17	1	13.57
18	4	13.58	,
19	3	13.59	,
19	5	13.59
21	6	13.60
21	1	13.60
23	5	13.61	,
23	4	13.61	,
25	6	13.64	,
26	2	13.65
27	2	13.69	,
28	3	13.72
29	6	13.75
30	3	13.78	,
31	5	13.81
32	2	13.84
33	4	13.86
34	4	13.89
35	1	13.90
36	5	13.91
37	4	13.96
38	1	14.00
39	1	14.18
40	3	14.52
	6	data-sort-value=99.98
	5	data-sort-value=99.98
	5	data-sort-value=99.99

Quarterfinals

Qualification: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) advance to the semifinals.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	0.158	13.24
2	7	0.175	13.41
3	9	0.148	13.42
4	5	0.159	13.46	,
5	8	0.136	13.48	,
6	3	0.156	13.62
7	6	0.143	13.70
8	2	0.152	13.73
		Wind: +0.1 m/s

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Lane	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	0.167	13.19
2	6	0.161	13.36	,
3	9	0.153	13.43	,
4	8	0.188	13.51
5	5	0.147	13.53
6	3	0.138	13.55
7	7	0.227	13.55
8	2	0.149	13.74
		Wind: +0.0 m/s

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	8		0.173	13.36	,
2	5		0.162	13.44
3	7		0.153	13.46
4	4		0.149	13.48
5	9		0.159	13.63
6	6		0.121	13.66
7	3		0.142	13.71
data-sort-value=8	—	2
			Wind: +0.0 m/s

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Reaction	Time
1	5		0.156	13.16
2	7		0.190	13.39
3	4		0.167	13.47
4	9		0.194	13.66
5	3		0.175	13.72
6	6		0.173	13.80
7	8		0.154	13.84
data-sort-value=8	—	2
			Wind: +0.1 m/s

Overall results for quarterfinals

Rank	Heat	Time	Notes
1	4	13.16
2	2	13.19
3	1	13.24
4	2	13.36	,
4	3	13.36	,
6	4	13.39
7	1	13.41
8	1	13.42
9	2	13.43	,
10	3	13.44
11	1	13.46	,
11	3	13.46
13	4	13.47
14	1	13.48	,
14	3	13.48
16	2	13.51
17	2	13.53
18	2	13.55
19	2	13.55
20	1	13.62
21	3	13.63
22	4	13.66
22	3	13.66
24	1	13.70
25	3	13.71
26	4	13.72
27	1	13.73
28	2	13.74
29	4	13.80
30	4	13.84
	3	data-sort-value=99.98
	4	data-sort-value=99.99

Semifinals

Qualification: First 4 in each heat(Q) advance to the Final.

Semifinal 1

The first semifinal start at 21:30 on 20 August 2008.

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time!	Notes
1	4			0.221	13.12
2	6			0.177	13.21	,
3	5			0.183	13.22	,
4	3			0.153	13.43	,
5	2			0.157	13.55
6	8			0.162	13.60
7	7			0.182	13.60
8	9			0.153	13.85
				Wind: -0.4 m/s

Semifinal 2

The second semifinal started at 21:39 on 20 August 2008.

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time!	Notes
1	6			0.169	13.31
2	5			0.181	13.34	,
3	9			0.173	13.40	, =
4	7			0.141	13.40
5	8			0.141	13.42
6	3			0.124	13.45
7	4			0.147	13.59
8	2			0.187	13.65
				Wind: -0.4 m/s

Final

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time!	Notes
	6			0.183	12.93
	5			0.175	13.17
	7			0.158	13.18
4	8			0.170	13.24
5	4			0.169	13.36
6	2			0.163	13.46
7	3			0.154	13.60
8	9			0.187	13.69
				Wind: +0.1 m/s

Notes and References

Web site: Olympic Athletics Competition Schedule . 2008-08-04 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20080913131714/http://www.iaaf.org/OLY08/results/eventCode%3D3659/bydiscipline/index.html . 13 September 2008 . dead .
Web site: Athletics at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games: Men's 110 metres Hurdles . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417172654/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/2008/ATH/mens-110-metres-hurdles.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 1 October 2017 . sports-reference.com.
Web site: 110 metres Hurdles, Men . Olympedia . 21 August 2020.
Web site: Entry Standards - The XXIX Olympic Games - Beijing, China - 8/24 August 2008 . 2008-08-04. IAAF. https://web.archive.org/web/20080913131730/http://www.iaaf.org/OLY08/standards/index.html. 13 September 2008 . live.
Official Report, vol. 3, p. 82.