The men's 400 metres was an event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. It was held from August 4 to August 8. Eighty athletes from 56 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.27 seconds by Alonzo Babers, returning the United States to the top of the podium for the first time since 1972 (and the 13th time overall). Gabriel Tiacoh won the Ivory Coast's first Olympic medal in any event, with a silver.
Background
This was the twentieth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from 1980 returned. The favorites were Bert Cameron of Jamaica (winner of the first world championship in 1983) and Americans Antonio McKay and Alonzo Babers.
The British Virgin Islands, Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, the Gambia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nepal, Oman, Rwanda, Somalia, Suriname, Togo, the United Arab Emirates, and Zimbabwe appeared in this event for the first time. The United States made its 19th 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 10 first-round heats, each with 8 runners. The top three runners in each heat advanced, along with the next two 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. 2, pp. 273–74.
Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1976 Summer Olympics.
No world or Olympic records were set during this event. National records set were:
Nation Athlete Round Time Elvis Forde Semifinal 2 45.32 Ibrahim Okash Heat 1 47.91
Schedule
For the first time, the event was held on four separate days, with each round being on a different day.
All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)
Date Time Round Saturday, 4 August 1984 10:30 Round 1 Sunday, 5 August 1984 17:00 Quarterfinals Monday, 6 August 1984 16:55 Semifinals Wednesday, 8 August 1984 16:45 Final
Results
Round 1
Heat 1
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Davison Lishebo 46.20 2 1 David Peltier 46.57 3 7 Allan Ingraham 46.72 4 6 Boubacar Diallo 46.73 5 2 Dean Greenaway 47.33 6 3 Evaldo da Silva 47.55 7 4 Ibrahim Okash 47.91 8 8 Issaka Hassane 49.64
Heat 2
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 3 Gabriel Tiacoh 45.96 2 6 David Kitur 46.25 3 5 Marcel Arnold 46.46 4 2 Gary Minihan 46.93 5 1 Nordin Jadi 47.12 6 7 Tommy Johansson 47.77 7 8 Daniel Andre 49.09 8 4 Faustin Butéra 51.41
Heat 3
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1 Innocent Egbunike 46.63 2 5 Mark Senior 46.73 3 8 Gérson de Souza 47.02 4 6 Manuel Ramirez-Caicedo 47.17 5 7 Bryan Saunders 47.40 6 4 Mohamed Amer Al-Malky 47.61 7 3 Meesaq Rizvi 49.58 — 2 Secundino Borabota
Heat 4
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Bertland Cameron 46.14 2 7 Oddur Sigurdsson 46.30 3 2 Doug Hinds 46.42 4 1 Richard Louis 46.70 5 5 Jean-Didace Bemou 47.26 6 3 Hector Llatser 47.30 7 8 Phillip Pipersburg 48.04 8 6 Alberto López 52.21
Heat 5
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 7 Alonzo Babers 45.81 2 3 Michael Paul 46.18 3 2 Philip Brown 46.26 4 1 Moses Kyeswa 46.78 5 8 Tim Bethune 46.98 6 6 Joseph Ramotshabi 48.11 7 5 Dawda Jallow 48.36 8 4 René López 48.71
Heat 6
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1 Bruce Frayne 46.08 2 2 Aldo Canti 46.14 3 8 Susumu Takano 46.26 4 6 Nafi Mersal 46.46 5 3 Alfred Browne 47.29 6 7 Rashid Al-Jirbi 48.71 7 4 Siegfried Cruden 50.07 — 5 Hassan El-Kashief
Heat 7
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Sunder Nix 45.42 2 6 Elvis Forde 45.47 3 7 Antonio Sánchez 46.03 4 4 Anton Skerritt 46.30 5 5 James Atuti 47.04 6 8 Adjé Adjeoda Vignon 47.43 7 3 Lapule Tamean 47.60 8 1 Pushpa Raj Ojha 52.12
Heat 8
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Antonio McKay 45.55 2 1 John Anzrah 46.12 3 7 Isidro del Prado 46.82 4 6 Leonardo Loforte 47.07 5 3 Joseph Rodan 49.00 6 8 Agripa Mwausegha 49.12 7 4 Charles Moses 50.39 — 2 Ali St. Louis
Heat 9
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Erwin Skamrahl 45.94 2 5 Angel Heras 46.06 3 3 Todd Bennett 46.09 4 4 Yann Quentrec 46.94 5 7 Wilson dos Santos 47.55 6 8 Mark Handelsman 48.17 7 1 Chris Madzokere 48.49 8 6 Arsène Randriamahazomana 48.86
Heat 10
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 6 Kriss Akabusi 45.64 2 3 Darren Clark 45.68 3 5 Sunday Uti 45.74 4 2 Devon Morris 45.80 5 1 Mike Okot 46.68 6 8 Samuel Sarkpa 47.65 7 7 Mama Moluh 48.90 — 4 Vincent Confait
Quarterfinals
Quarterfinal 1
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 8 Antonio McKay 44.72 2 6 Darren Clark 44.77 3 3 Kriss Akabusi 45.43 4 4 Dave Lishebo 45.57 5 2 John Anzrah 45.67 6 1 Devon Morris 46.14 7 7 Allan Ingraham 46.14 8 5 David Peltier 46.48
Quarterfinal 2
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Innocent Egbunike 45.26 2 5 Sunder Nix 45.31 3 2 Elvis Forde 45.60 4 7 Aldo Canti 45.64 5 3 Angel Heras 45.88 6 6 Marcel Arnold 46.10 7 8 Philip Brown 46.63 8 1 Anton Skerritt 46.93
Quarterfinal 3
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Alonzo Babers 44.75 , 2 1 Sunday Uti 45.01 3 8 Bertland Cameron 45.16 4 7 Bruce Frayne 45.35 5 6 Todd Bennett 45.51 6 2 Antonio Sánchez 45.79 7 4 Oddur Sigurdsson 46.07 8 3 Doug Hinds 46.19
Quarterfinal 4
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Gabriel Tiacoh 45.15 2 6 David Kitur 45.78 3 8 Michael Paul 45.84 4 4 Susumu Takano 45.91 5 1 Erwin Skamrahl 46.39 6 7 Mark Senior 46.50 7 3 Gerson Souza 46.65 8 5 Isidro del Prado 46.71
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 3 Innocent Egbunike 45.16 2 7 Alonzo Babers 45.17 3 1 Darren Clark 45.26 4 6 Sunder Nix 45.41 5 8 Aldo Canti 45.59 6 5 Michael Paul 45.60 7 2 Kriss Akabusi 45.69 8 4 Susumu Takano 45.88
Semifinal 2
Cameron pulled up with an injury at 150 metres, hopping for about 20 metres before returning to a run. Despite the injury, he finished fourth to qualify for the final (in which he ultimately would not be able to run).
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Gabriel Tiacoh 44.64 2 8 Sunday Uti 44.83 3 3 Antonio McKay 44.92 4 2 Bertland Cameron 45.10 5 5 Bruce Frayne 45.21 6 1 Elvis Forde 45.32 7 6 David Kitur 45.62 8 7 Dave Lishebo 45.97
Final
Cameron was still injured from the semifinal race and could not start the final. Clark led early and held the lead until the final straight. Babers began his successful push from about the 250 metre mark, with Tiacoh behind him. McKay edged Clark and Nix at the finish.Official Report, p. 274.
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 4 Alonzo Babers 44.27 7 Gabriel Tiacoh 44.54 1 Antonio McKay 44.71 4 5 Darren Clark 44.75 5 6 Sunder Nix 44.75 6 2 Sunday Uti 44.93 7 3 Innocent Egbunike 45.35 — 8 Bertland Cameron
In popular culture In the UK TV show Little Britain, character Denver Mills is credited as having won the silver medal in the 400 metres at the 1984 Olympics.
See also 1982 Men's European Championships 400 metres (Athens) 1984 Men's Friendship Games 400 metres (Moscow) 1988 Men's Olympic 400 metres (Seoul)
References
External links Results