Venue Athens Olympic Stadium Competitors 63 from 53 nations | Dates 20–23 August Winning time 44.00 | |
The men's 400 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 20 to 23.
Contents
The first round had split a full roster of runners into eight heats with the first two gaining a direct qualification and then the next eight fastest across all heats advancing to the semifinals. The top two runners in each of the three semifinal heats moved on directly to the final, and they were immediately joined by the next two fastest from any of the semifinals.
The final witnessed the three American favorites challenging each other for the Olympic medals, with Otis Harris, Jeremy Wariner, and Derrick Brew occupying the middle lanes of the track. At the start, the Americans stormed out from the blocks to take a powerful lead over the rest of the lead. Harris commanded the top position for the Americans throughout the race, but in the final turn he was chased down by Wariner. Slightly behind coming off the turn, Wariner stormed ahead over the last hundred metres to win the race at 44.00 seconds, the fastest time ever recorded in this event since American legend Michael Johnson won the gold in Sydney 2000. Harris held on to take the silver with Brew separating from the pack over the final straight to give the United States a sweep of the medal podium for the third time in the event's Olympic history, having previously managed at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
At the end of the final, seven sprinters managed to finish the race under 45 seconds, and five personal bests were recorded.
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
No new records were set during the competition.
Qualification
The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the men's 400 metres, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 45.55 seconds or faster during the qualification period. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run the race in 45.95 seconds or faster could be entered.
Schedule
All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)
Round 1
Qualification rule: The top two finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next eight fastest overall runners (q) advanced to the semifinals.
Semifinals
Qualification rule: The top two finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next two fastest overall runners (q) advanced to the final.