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Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics

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Dates
  
August 15–24

Competitors
  
2,057 from 200 nations

Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Venue
  
Beijing National Stadium

Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics were held during the last ten days of the games, from August 15 to August 24, 2008, at the Beijing National Stadium. The Olympic sport of athletics is split into four distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking events.

Contents

Both men and women had very similar schedules of events. Men competed in 24 events and women in 23, as their schedule lacked the 50 km race walk. In addition, both the men's 110 m hurdles and decathlon are reflected in the women's schedule by the 100 m hurdles and heptathlon, respectively.

The Olympic record was broken in 17 returning events. In five events, including the inaugural women's 3000 m steeplechase, the world record was broken.

The athletics was, alongside the Olympic cycling events, one of the few large sports programmes in which the host nation fared comparatively poorly in terms of medals won. Despite a haul of 100 medals at the games as a whole, Chinese athletes took home two bronze medals from the athletics events. The country's foremost athlete Liu Xiang, the 2004 Olympic champion in the 110 metres hurdles, had to withdraw after a false start due to injury.

Men

* Athletes who participated in the heats only and received medals.

  • 1500 metres The original gold medalist, Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain, was stripped of his gold medal for having committed anti-doping violations. The rest of the competitors were elevated by one position accordingly.
  • 4 × 100 metres relay Jamaican team originally won gold medals but was disqualified due to anti-doping rules violation by Nesta Carter.
  • 4 × 400 metres relay Russian team originally won bronze medals but was disqualified due to anti-doping rules violation by Denis Alexeev. Although the medals have been officially stripped as of 14 September 2016, they have yet to be reallocated. Following reallocation, Great Britain's Robert Tobin, Andrew Steele, Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney will be awarded bronze.
  • pole vault The original bronze medalist, Denys Yurchenko of Ukraine, was stripped of his bronze medal for positive test for the prohibited substance.
  • shot put The original bronze medalist, Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus, was stripped of his bronze medal after being given a lifetime ban in 2013 for doping offences. Dylan Armstrong of Canada has received the bronze.
  • hammer throw Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan were originally disqualified for doping, but had their medals reinstated in June 2010 after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that there was an error at the Chinese medical lab.
  • Women

    * Athletes who participated in the heats only and received medals.

  • 3000 metres steeplechase Original bronze medalist Yekaterina Volkova,  Russia, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return bronze medal following retesting of her original in-competition sample returned a positive test for the presence of banned substances.
  • 4 × 100 metres relay Originally won by Team  Russia, but gold medals were stripped due to anti-doping rules violation by Yulia Chermoshanskaya. Following reallocation Belgium are awarded gold, Nigeria – silver and Brazil – bronze.
  • 4 × 400 metres relay Team  Russia originally won silver medals, while Team  Belarus originally placed fourth, but both were disqualified due to anti-doping rules violations - by Anastasiya Kapachinskaya and Tatyana Firova in the case of Russia and Sviatlana Usovich for Belarus. Medals are yet to be reallocated, but after reallocation Jamaica will be promoted to silver and Great Britain to bronze.
  • high jump Original bronze medalist Anna Chicherova,  Russia, was officially stripped of her bronze medal following a positive retest of her sample from the 2008 Games for the anabolic steroid turinobol. Yelena Slesarenko,  Russia, and Vita Palamar,  Ukraine, originally 4th and 5th, also were disqualified for doping following retests. Originally the 6th place athlete, Chaunte Howard,  United States, stands to receive the bronze medal.
  • long jump Original silver medalist Tatyana Lebedeva,  Russia, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return silver medal following retesting of her original in-competition sample returned a positive test for the presence of the banned substances.
  • triple jump Original bronze medalist Hrysopiyi Devetzi,  Greece, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return bronze medal following retesting of original in-competition samples returned a positive result for banned substances. Original silver medalist Tatyana Lebedeva,  Russia was also disqualified later due to use of banned substances.
  • shot put Original silver medalist Natallia Mikhnevich,  Belarus, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return silver medal following retesting of her original in-competition sample returned a positive test for the presence of the banned substances methandienone and stanozolol. Original bronze medalist Nadzeya Ostapchuk,  Belarus, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return bronze medal following retesting of her original in-competition sample returned a positive test.
  • discus throw Retests of samples from the 2008 Summer Olympics detected a positive sample from original silver medalist Yarelys Barrios,  Cuba, for performance enhancing drugs, and she was stripped of her medal on 1 September 2016. Reallocation of medals, or determination of the effect on the medal won by Barrios in the 2012 Summer Olympics are yet to be determined.
  • hammer throw Original gold medalist Aksana Miankova,  Belarus, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return gold medal following retesting of her original in-competition sample returned a positive test for the presence of the banned substances turinabol and oxandrolone.
  • javelin throw Maria Abakumova,  Russia, who originally won the silver medal in the women's javelin, disqualified after she tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone.
  • heptathlon Lyudmila Blonska,  Ukraine, who originally won the silver medal in the women's heptathlon, disqualified after she tested positive for methyltestosterone. Following reallocation Hyleas Fountain of the United States awarded silver, Tatyana Chernova of Russia – bronze.
  • Medal table

    Retrieved from Beijing Olympics 2008 Official Website.

      Host nation (China)

    Records broken

    During these 2008 Summer Olympic Games, 17 new Olympic records and 5 new world records were set in the athletics events.

    Women's Olympic and world records

    * Inaugural event.

    References

    Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics Wikipedia