The men's 400 metres was an event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total number of 68 participating athletes from 52 nations, with nine qualifying heats. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Quincy Watts of the United States, the third in what would ultimately be seven consecutive American victories stretching from 1984 to 2008 and the 15th overall title in the event by the United States. Steve Lewis became the third man (and first American) to win a second medal in the event. Samson Kitur earned Kenya's first medal in the men's 400 metres since 1972.

In heat 1 of the semifinal round, Derek Redmond tore his hamstring 150 meters into the race. His father, Jim, rushed onto the track and supported Redmond as he limped to the finish line. Redmond was disqualified due to outside assistance, but the crowd gave him a standing ovation. The incident became one of the best-remembered moments in Olympic history.

In heat 2 of the semi-final round, Quincy Watts set an Olympic record with 43.71. This was the second-fastest time in history, behind only the world record held by Butch Reynolds. The previous second-fastest time had been run by Danny Everett at the United States Olympic Trials, where Reynolds did not qualify for the Olympics. In the Olympic semi-finals, Everett suffered a foot injury and hobbled to the finish. In the final, Watts won the gold medal and improved his Olympic record to 43.50.

Background This was the 22nd appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Defending gold medalist Steve Lewis and bronze medalist Danny Everett of the United States, but Quincy Watts beat silver medalist Butch Reynolds at the U.S. Olympic trials to take the third spot. Roger Black of Great Britain had taken silver at the 1991 world championship.

Angola, the Central African Republic, Costa Rica, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritania, and Qatar appeared in this event for the first time. The Unified Team, consisting of some former Soviet republics, competed in the only Summer Games the Unified Team existed. One Yugoslav athlete competed as an "Independent Olympic Participant." The United States made its 21st appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format The competition retained the basic four-round format from 1920. The "fastest loser" system, introduced in 1964, was used for the first round. There were 9 first-round heats, each with 7 or 8 runners. The top three runners in each heat advanced, along with the next five fastest overall. The 32 quarterfinalists were divided into 4 quarterfinals with 8 runners each; the top four athletes in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals, with no "fastest loser" spots. The semifinals featured 2 heats of 8 runners each. The top four runners in each semifinal heat advanced, making an eight-man final.Official Report, vol. 5, pp. 40–41.

Records These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Quincy Watts set two new Olympic records. He first ran 43.71 in the semifinals and improved his mark in the final to 43.50.

The following national records were established during the competition:

Nation Athlete Round Time Martial Biguet Heat 3 47.82

Schedule Following the 1984 schedule, the event was held on four separate days, with each round being on a different day.

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round Saturday, 1 August 1992 10:00 Round 1 Sunday, 2 August 1992 19:15 Quarterfinals Monday, 3 August 1992 19:15 Semifinals Wednesday, 5 August 1992 20:35 Final

Results

Round 1

Heat 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Derek Redmond 45.03 2 5 Roberto Hernández 45.07 3 6 Solomon Amegatcher 45.42 4 3 Dennis Blake 45.92 5 7 Aktawat Sakoolchan 46.78 6 1 Ali Faudet 47.10 7 2 Jaime Rodrigues 48.89

Heat 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Troy Douglas 46.02 2 2 Alvin Daniel 46.09 3 6 Thomas Schönlebe 46.26 4 8 Seibert Straughn 46.54 5 1 Delon Felix 47.39 6 4 Mohamed Al-Malky 48.00 7 7 Randolph Foster 48.80 8 3 Vanxay Sinebandith 51.71

Heat 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Quincy Watts 45.38 2 5 Bobang Phiri 45.57 3 1 Rico Lieder 45.86 4 2 Francis Ogola 45.87 5 6 Ediélson Tenório 46.31 6 7 Kossi Akoto 46.97 7 3 Martial Biguet 47.82

Heat 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Simon Kemboi 45.84 2 1 Slobodan Branković 46.34 3 2 Devon Morris 46.45 4 8 Patrick Delice 46.58 5 7 Subul Babo 47.17 6 5 Médard Makanga 48.17 7 3 Kenmore Hughes 48.56 8 6 Mohamed Amir 50.35

Heat 5

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 3 Danny Everett 45.68 2 4 David Grindley 45.79 3 8 Andrea Nuti 46.12 4 6 Innocent Egbunike 46.51 5 1 Dmitry Kosov 47.28 6 2 Joseph Adam 47.68 7 7 Baptiste Firiam 48.98 8 5 Eulogio Ngache 50.83

Heat 6

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 7 Samson Kitur 45.41 2 5 Susumu Takano 45.96 3 6 Tamás Molnár 46.21 4 2 Anthony Wallace 46.88 5 4 Camera Ntereke 47.32 6 3 Michael Joseph 50.90 — 1 Desai Wynter 8 Lamin Marikong

Heat 7

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 3 Ian Morris 45.65 2 6 Benyounes Lahlou 45.73 3 4 David Kitur 46.22 4 5 Mark Garner 46.26 5 7 Apisai Driu Baibai 47.81 6 1 Henry Mohoanyane 48.39 7 2 Mohamed Mehdi Hasan 48.62

Heat 8

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 3 Steve Lewis 45.14 2 6 Sunday Bada 45.38 3 4 Sidnei de Souza 45.92 4 5 Cayetano Cornet 46.13 5 7 Tim Hesse 46.67 6 1 Michael McLean 47.75 7 2 Samba Fall 50.91

Heat 9

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Ibrahim Ismail Muftah 45.21 2 3 Roger Black 45.94 3 5 Cephas Lemba 45.94 4 1 Marco Vaccari 46.37 5 7 Takahiro Watanabe 46.45 6 2 Foday Sillah 47.00 7 8 João Francisco Capindica 47.44 8 6 Stephen Lugor 48.94

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Steve Lewis 44.54 2 3 Roberto Hernández 44.84 3 4 Roger Black 45.28 4 6 Simon Kemboi 45.40 5 8 Thomas Schönlebe 45.46 6 1 Slobodan Branković 45.90 7 7 Andrea Nuti 45.96 8 2 Mark Garner 46.85

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Derek Redmond 45.02 2 6 Susumu Takano 45.27 3 5 Troy Douglas 45.67 4 3 Danny Everett 45.76 5 1 David Kitur 46.25 6 2 Ediélson Tenório 46.34 7 7 Alvin Daniel 46.44 8 8 Tamás Molnár 46.80

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Ian Morris 44.78 2 8 David Grindley 44.91 3 3 Ibrahim Ismail Muftah 45.18 4 4 Sunday Bada 45.34 5 7 Devon Morris 45.67 6 2 Cayetano Cornet 46.27 — 6 Solomon Amegatcher 1 Cephas Lemba

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Samson Kitur 44.66 2 3 Quincy Watts 45.06 3 6 Bobang Phiri 45.27 4 4 Benyounes Lahlou 45.38 5 2 Sidney Telles 45.55 6 1 Rico Lieder 45.86 7 7 Francis Ogola 46.21 8 8 Dennis Blake 46.49

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Redmond was injured and did not finish without assistance.

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 3 Steve Lewis 44.50 2 4 Roberto Hernández 44.72 3 6 Ibrahim Ismail Muftah 45.01 4 1 Susumu Takano 45.09 5 2 Sunday Bada 45.36 6 7 Troy Douglas 45.59 7 8 Simon Kemboi 45.93 — 5 Derek Redmond

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 6 Quincy Watts 43.71 , 2 3 Samson Kitur 44.18 3 4 Ian Morris 44.21 4 5 David Grindley 44.47 5 7 Roger Black 44.72 6 1 Benyounes Lahlou 45.49 7 2 Bobang Phiri 45.59 8 8 Danny Everett 56.61

Final

The final was held on August 5, 1992.

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 4 Quincy Watts 43.50 7 Steve Lewis 44.21 5 Samson Kitur 44.24 4 6 Ian Morris 44.25 5 2 Roberto Hernández 44.52 6 3 David Grindley 44.75 7 1 Ibrahim Ismail Muftah 45.10 8 8 Susumu Takano 45.18

See also 1988 Men's Olympic Games 400 metres (Seoul) 1990 Men's European Championships 400 metres (Split) 1991 Men's World Championships 400 metres (Tokyo) 1993 Men's World Championships 400 metres (Stuttgart) 1994 Men's European Championships 400 metres (Helsinki) 1995 Men's World Championships 400 metres (Gothenburg) 1996 Men's Olympic Games 400 metres (Atlanta)

References

External links Official Report Results