The men's 110 metres hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 18–21 August at the Beijing National Stadium. 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.
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. 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.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 82.
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:
Nation Athlete Round Time Ryan Brathwaite Heat 3 13.38 Ronald Forbes Heat 3 13.59 Konstadinos Douvalidis Quarterfinal 1 13.46 Lee Jung-Joon 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 Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 6 Dayron Robles 0.180 13.39 2 4 Andrew Turner 0.151 13.56 3 5 Ji Wei 0.186 13.57 4 8 Richard Phillips 0.160 13.60 5 3 Evgeniy Borisov 0.187 13.90 6 2 Oleg Normatov 0.177 14.00 7 7 Jurica Grabušic 0.207 14.18 Wind: +0.3 m/s
Heat 2
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 6 David Oliver 0.167 13.30 2 5 Jackson Quiñónez 0.179 13.41 3 2 Shamar Sands 0.167 13.45 4 3 Gregory Sedoc 0.155 13.50 , 5 8 Lee Jung-Joon 0.128 13.65 6 4 Mikel Thomas 0.159 13.69 , 7 7 Damjan Zlatnar 0.124 13.84 Wind: +0.1 m/s
Heat 3
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 Paulo Villar 0.144 13.37 , 2 2 Ryan Brathwaite 0.156 13.38 , 3 5 Petr Svoboda 0.153 13.43 4 7 Shi Dongpeng 0.203 13.53 5 8 Ronald Forbes 0.170 13.59 , 6 6 Héctor Cotto 0.140 13.72 7 9 Dudley Dorival 0.165 13.78 , 8 3 Abdul Rashid 0.172 14.52 Wind: +0.2 m/s
Heat 4
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 2 David Payne 0.152 13.42 2 6 Ladji Doucouré 0.155 13.52 3 8 Selim Nurudeen 0.174 13.58 , 4 5 Maurice Wignall 0.174 13.61 , 5 7 Maksim Lynsha 0.196 13.86 6 3 Stanislav Sajdok 0.163 13.89 7 4 Masato Naito 0.168 13.96 Wind: -1.1 m/s
Heat 5
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 Artur Noga 0.175 13.53 2 5 Igor Peremota 0.142 13.59 3 6 Dániel Kiss 0.153 13.61 , 4 8 Anselmo da Silva 0.137 13.81 5 3 Joseph-Berlioz Randriamihaja 0.174 13.91 — 2 Terrence Trammell 0.242 — 7 Staņislavs Olijars 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 Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 8 Konstadinos Douvalidis 0.149 13.49 , = 2 5 Marcel van der Westen 0.162 13.54 3 7 Allan Scott 0.146 13.56 4 4 Samuel Coco-Viloin 0.176 13.60 5 3 Mohamed Issa Al-Thawadi 0.127 13.64 , 6 6 David Ilariani 0.155 13.75 — 2 Liu Xiang — Wind: +0.1 m/s
Overall results for round 1
RankHeatAthleteNationTimeNotes12 David Oliver 13.30 23 Paulo Villar 13.37 , 33 Ryan Brathwaite 13.38 , 41 Dayron Robles 13.39 52 Jackson Quiñónez 13.41 64 David Payne 13.42 73 Petr Svoboda 13.43 82 Shamar Sands 13.45 96 Konstadinos Douvalidis 13.49 , =102 Gregory Sedoc 13.50 , 114 Ladji Doucouré 13.52 125 Artur Noga 13.53 123 Shi Dongpeng 13.53 146 Marcel van der Westen 13.54 156 Allan Scott 13.56 151 Andrew Turner 13.56 171 Ji Wei 13.57 184 Selim Nurudeen 13.58 , 193 Ronald Forbes 13.59 , 195 Igor Peremota 13.59 216 Samuel Coco-Viloin 13.60 211 Richard Phillips 13.60 235 Dániel Kiss 13.61 , 234 Maurice Wignall 13.61 , 256 Mohamed Issa Al-Thawadi 13.64 , 262 Lee Jung-Joon 13.65 272 Mikel Thomas 13.69 , 283 Héctor Cotto 13.72 296 David Ilariani 13.75 303 Dudley Dorival 13.78 , 315 Anselmo da Silva 13.81 322 Damjan Zlatnar 13.84 334 Maksim Lynsha 13.86 344 Stanislav Sajdok 13.89 351 Evgeniy Borisov 13.90 365 Joseph-Berlioz Randriamihaja 13.91 374 Masato Naito 13.96 381 Oleg Normatov 14.00 391 Jurica Grabušic 14.18 403 Abdul Rashid 14.52 6 Liu Xiang 5 Terrence Trammell 5 Staņislavs Olijars
Quarterfinals
Qualification: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) advance to the semifinals.
Quarterfinal 1
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 David Payne 0.158 13.24 2 7 Petr Svoboda 0.175 13.41 3 9 Shi Dongpeng 0.148 13.42 4 5 Konstadinos Douvalidis 0.159 13.46 , 5 8 Richard Phillips 0.136 13.48 , 6 3 Mikel Thomas 0.156 13.62 7 6 Igor Peremota 0.143 13.70 8 2 Héctor Cotto 0.152 13.73 Wind: +0.1 m/s
Quarterfinal 2
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 Dayron Robles 0.167 13.19 2 6 Artur Noga 0.161 13.36 , 3 9 Gregory Sedoc 0.153 13.43 , 4 8 Samuel Coco-Viloin 0.188 13.51 5 5 Andrew Turner 0.147 13.53 6 3 Lee Jung-Joon 0.138 13.55 7 7 Shamar Sands 0.227 13.55 8 2 David Ilariani 0.149 13.74 Wind: +0.0 m/s
Quarterfinal 3
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 8 Maurice Wignall 0.173 13.36 , 2 5 Ryan Brathwaite 0.162 13.44 3 7 Paulo Villar 0.153 13.46 4 4 Marcel van der Westen 0.149 13.48 5 9 Dániel Kiss 0.159 13.63 6 6 Allan Scott 0.121 13.66 7 3 Dudley Dorival 0.142 13.71 — 2 Mohamed Issa Al-Thawadi Wind: +0.0 m/s
Quarterfinal 4
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 5 David Oliver 0.156 13.16 2 7 Ladji Doucouré 0.190 13.39 3 4 Jackson Quiñónez 0.167 13.47 4 9 Selim Nurudeen 0.194 13.66 5 3 Ronald Forbes 0.175 13.72 6 6 Ji Wei 0.173 13.80 7 8 Anselmo da Silva 0.154 13.84 — 2 Damjan Zlatnar Wind: +0.1 m/s
Overall results for quarterfinals
RankHeatAthleteNationTimeNotes14 David Oliver 13.16 22 Dayron Robles 13.19 31 David Payne 13.24 42 Artur Noga 13.36 , 43 Maurice Wignall 13.36 , 64 Ladji Doucouré 13.39 71 Petr Svoboda 13.41 81 Shi Dongpeng 13.42 92 Gregory Sedoc 13.43 , 103 Ryan Brathwaite 13.44 111 Konstadinos Douvalidis 13.46 , 113 Paulo Villar 13.46 134 Jackson Quiñónez 13.47 141 Richard Phillips 13.48 , 143 Marcel van der Westen 13.48 162 Samuel Coco-Viloin 13.51 172 Andrew Turner 13.53 182 Lee Jung-Joon 13.55 192 Shamar Sands 13.55 201 Mikel Thomas 13.62 213 Dániel Kiss 13.63 224 Selim Nurudeen 13.66 223 Allan Scott 13.66 241 Igor Peremota 13.70 253 Dudley Dorival 13.71 264 Ronald Forbes 13.72 271 Héctor Cotto 13.73282 David Ilariani 13.74 294 Ji Wei 13.80 304 Anselmo da Silva 13.84 3 Mohamed Issa Al-Thawadi 4 Damjan Zlatnar
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.
RankLaneAthleteNation Reaction TimeNotes14 Dayron Robles 0.221 13.12 26 David Payne 0.177 13.21 , 35 Ladji Doucouré 0.18313.22 , 43 Richard Phillips 0.15313.43 , 52 Konstadinos Douvalidis 0.15713.5568 Gregory Sedoc 0.16213.6077 Petr Svoboda 0.18213.6089 Paulo Villar 0.15313.85 Wind: -0.4 m/s
Semifinal 2
The second semifinal started at 21:39 on 20 August 2008.
RankLaneAthleteNation Reaction TimeNotes16 David Oliver 0.16913.31 25 Artur Noga 0.18113.34 , 39 Jackson Quiñónez 0.17313.40 , =47 Maurice Wignall 0.14113.40 58 Shi Dongpeng 0.14113.4263 Marcel van der Westen 0.12413.4574 Ryan Brathwaite 0.14713.5982 Samuel Coco-Viloin 0.18713.65 Wind: -0.4 m/s
Final RankLaneAthleteNation Reaction TimeNotes 6 Dayron Robles 0.18312.93 5 David Payne 0.175 13.17 7 David Oliver 0.158 13.18 48 Ladji Doucouré 0.17013.2454 Artur Noga 0.169 13.36 62 Maurice Wignall 0.163 13.4673 Richard Phillips 0.154 13.6089 Jackson Quiñónez 0.18713.69 Wind: +0.1 m/s
References