Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles

The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entry list of 38 competitors, with five qualifying heats (38 runners) and two semifinals (16) before the final (8) took place on Sunday September 25, 1988. One athlete did not start, so there were 37 competitors from 28 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Andre Phillips of the United States, the nation's second consecutive and 14th overall victory in the event. Amadou Dia Ba earned Senegal's first medal in the event with his silver. Dia Ba broke up a potential American sweep, as 1976 and 1984 champion Edwin Moses took bronze and Kevin Young placed fourth. Moses was the second man to earn three medals in the event (after Morgan Taylor from 1924 to 1932).

Background

This was the 19th 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.

Three of the eight finalists from the 1984 Games returned: gold medalist (and 1976 champion) Edwin Moses of the United States, bronze medalist Harald Schmid of West Germany, and fifth-place finisher Amadou Dia Bâ of Senegal. Fourth-place finisher Sven Nylander of Sweden was entered but did not start. Moses had won over 100 consecutive finals in nearly 10 years starting in August 1977, but had finally been beaten in June 1987. No longer unbeatable, Moses had still won the 1987 World Championships and the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials—both featured very strong fields.

Barbados, Fiji, Honduras, Nepal, Sierra Leone, and South Korea each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 18th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

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. 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 5 quarterfinal heats with between 7 and 8 athletes each. The top 3 men in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals along with the next fastest 1 overall. The 16 semifinalists were divided into 2 semifinals of 8 athletes each, with the top 4 in each semifinal advancing to the 8-man final.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Andre Phillips set a new Olympic record in the final with a time of 47.19 seconds.

Schedule

All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)

Date Time Round Friday, 23 September 1988 11:10 Quarterfinals Saturday, 24 September 1988 16:00 Semifinals Sunday, 25 September 1988 13:35 Final

Results

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were held on Friday September 23, 1988.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Amadou Dia Ba 49.41 2 Klaus Ehrle 50.10 3 John Graham 50.30 4 Hwang Hong-Chul 50.52 5 Philip Harries 50.81 6 Jasem Aldowaila 51.87 7 Dambar Kunwar 56.80 — Sven Nylander

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Harald Schmid 49.77 2 Simon Kitur 49.88 3 Alain Cuypers 50.42 4 Ahmed Ghanem 50.44 5 Ryoichi Yoshida 50.49 6 Samuel Matete 51.06 7 Domingo Cordero 51.26 8 Jorge Fidel Ponce 55.38

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Edwin Moses 49.38 2 Edgar Itt 50.10 3 José Alonso 50.12 4 Leigh Miller 50.53 5 Branislav Karaulić 51.32 6 Allan Ince 52.76 7 Oral Selkridge 53.44

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Kevin Young 49.35 2 Kriss Akabusi 49.62 3 Gideon Yego 49.80 4 Jozef Kucej 49.89 5 Rok Kopitar 50.54 6 Hamidou M'Baye 50.58 7 Benjamin Grant 51.73 8 Joseph Rodan 53.66

Quarterfinal 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Andre Phillips 49.34 2 Winthrop Graham 49.40 3 Joseph Maritim 49.64 4 Toma Tomov 49.66 5 Max Robertson 50.67 6 Ahmed Hamada Jassim 51.34 7 Yousif Al-Dossary 53.51

Semifinals

The semifinals were held on Saturday September 24, 1988.

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time NotesLANE 1 3 Edwin Moses 47.89 2 5 Kevin Young 48.56 3 1 Harald Schmid 48.93 4 6 Kriss Akabusi 49.22 5 4 Joseph Maritim 49.50 6 8 José Alonso 49.57 7 2 Klaus Ehrle 51.04 8 7 John Graham 51.33

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time NotesLANE 1 5 Andre Phillips 48.19 2 6 Winthrop Graham 48.37 3 4 Amadou Dia Ba 48.48 4 2 Edgar Itt 48.86 5 3 Toma Tomov 48.90 6 1 Simon Kitur 49.74 7 7 Alain Cuypers 49.75 — 8 Gideon Yego

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 6 Andre Phillips 47.19 5 Amadou Dia Ba 47.23 3 Edwin Moses 47.56 4 2 Kevin Young 47.94 5 4 Winthrop Graham 48.04 6 7 Kriss Akabusi 48.69 7 1 Harald Schmid 48.76 8 8 Edgar Itt 48.78

Results summary

Rank Athlete Nation Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Notes Andre Phillips 49.34 48.19 47.19 Amadou Dia Ba 49.41 48.48 47.23 Edwin Moses 49.38 47.89 47.56 4 Kevin Young 49.35 48.56 47.94 5 Winthrop Graham 49.40 48.37 48.04 6 Kriss Akabusi 49.62 49.22 48.69 7 Harald Schmid 49.77 48.93 48.76 8 Edgar Itt 50.10 48.86 48.78 9 Toma Tomov 49.66 48.90 Did not advance 10 Joseph Maritim 49.64 49.50 11 José Alonso 50.12 49.57 12 Simon Kitur 49.88 49.74 13 Alain Cuypers 50.42 49.75 14 Klaus Ehrle 50.10 51.04 15 John Graham 50.30 51.33 16 Gideon Yego 49.80 17 Jozef Kucej 49.89 Did not advance 18 Ahmed Ghanem 50.44 19 Ryoichi Yoshida 50.49 20 Hwang Hong-Chul 50.52 21 Leigh Miller 50.53 22 Rok Kopitar 50.54 23 Hamidou M'Baye 50.58 24 Max Robertson 50.67 25 Philip Harries 50.81 26 Samuel Matete 51.06 27 Domingo Cordero 51.26 28 Branislav Karaulić 51.32 29 Ahmed Hamada Jassim 51.34 30 Benjamin Grant 51.73 31 Jasem Aldowaila 51.87 32 Allan Ince 52.76 33 Oral Selkridge 53.44 34 Yousif Al-Dossary 53.51 35 Joseph Rodan 53.66 36 Jorge Fidel Ponce 55.38 37 Dambar Kunwar 56.80 — Sven Nylander

See also 1987 Men's World Championships 400m Hurdles (Rome) 1990 Men's European Championships 400m Hurdles (Split) 1991 Men's World Championships 400m Hurdles (Tokyo)

References

External links Official Report