The men's 400 metres was an event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. The competition was held on July 26, 28, and 29, 1976. Forty-four athletes from 29 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.14 seconds by Alberto Juantorena of Cuba, the nation's first medal in the event, breaking a string of five victories by the United States. Juantorena became the first man to win both the 800 metres and 400 metres in an Olympics. His winning time of 44.26 seconds remained as the fastest time at sea level until it was broken by Butch Reynolds in May 1987 in Columbus, Ohio.

Summary

In the final, Fred Newhouse and Maxie Parks appeared to go for the early lead, while Alberto Juantorena was initially a little slower. Then he stretched out on the backstretch to regain position about equal to the third American Herman Frazier. Coming off the final turn Juantorena had caught the rest of the field and was a step behind Newhouse. Parks and Fons Brijdenbach were about even two more strides back with Frazier just behind them. As Juantorena began to pass Newhouse, Newhouse noticeably struggled, leaving Juantorena with the gold medal. Three metres back, Frazier just edged ahead of Brijdenbach for the bronze medal, as Parks faded.

Background

This was the eighteenth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Two finalists, but no medalists, from 1972 returned: sixth-place finisher Markku Kukkoaho of Finland and seventh-place Karl Honz of West Germany. Alberto Juantorena was the favorite, ranked #1 in the world and trying to become the first man to win the 400 metres/800 metres double (outside of the 1906 Intercalated Games). His main competition was the United States team, aiming for a sixth consecutive win in the event.

Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, the Netherlands Antilles, and Papua New Guinea appeared in this event for the first time. The United States made its eighteenth appearance in the event, the only nation to compete in it at every Olympic Games to that point.

Competition format

The competition retained the basic four-round format from 1920. The "fastest loser" system, introduced in 1964, was applied in the first round. With 20 fewer runners than in 1972 (44 compared to 64), there were only 6 first-round heats, each scheduled to have 7 or 8 athletes but one with only 6 starters. The top five runners in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals along with the next two fastest overall. The 4 quarterfinals each had 8 runners; 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. 3, p. 53.

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.

Schedule

The quarterfinals were moved back up to the first day (along with the first round) for the first time since 1964.

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Date Time Round Monday, 26 July 1976 11:0015:15 Round 1Quarterfinals Wednesday, 28 July 1976 15:20 Semifinals Thursday, 29 July 1976 16:00 Final

Results

Heats

The heats were held on July 26, 1976.

Heat 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Herman Frazier 46.09 2 7 Mike Sands 46.52 3 5 Zbigniew Jaremski 46.68 4 6 Peter Grant 47.03 5 8 Brian Saunders 47.24 6 3 Carlos Noroña 48.46 7 1 Hamil Grimes 49.24 8 4 Wilfrid Cyriaque 51.49

Heat 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Fred Newhouse 45.42 2 7 Rick Mitchell 46.11 3 6 Jan Werner 46.19 4 4 Alfonso Di Guida 46.52 5 2 Leighton Priestley 46.74 6 8 Don Domansky 47.24 7 1 Errol Thurton 48.91 8 3 Ahmed Al-Assiri 49.72

Heat 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 7 Maxie Parks 46.12 2 2 Delmo da Silva 47.21 3 4 Iván Mangual 47.39 4 1 Karl Honz 47.47 5 5 Eddy Gutiérrez 47.89 6 3 Renelda Swan 49.13 — — Stavros Tziortzis — Tony Moore

Heat 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 8 Fons Brijdenbach 46.73 2 2 Jerzy Pietrzyk 46.92 3 6 Franz-Peter Hofmeister 47.17 4 1 Ossi Karttunen 47.22 5 4 Glenn Bogue 47.42 6 3 Raymond Heerenveen 47.44 7 5 Wavala Kali 48.85 8 7 Ricardo Larios 50.52

Heat 5

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 6 David Jenkins 46.60 2 5 Bernd Herrmann 46.99 3 4 Jozo Alebić 47.03 4 2 Markku Kukkoaho 47.67 5 3 Charles Joseph 47.72 6 7 Samba Dièye 47.98 7 1 Bjarni Stefánsson 48.34

Heat 6

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Mike Solomon 47.29 2 4 Glen Cohen 47.77 3 6 Alberto Juantorena 47.89 4 1 Alfred Daley 48.04 5 7 Fred Sowerby 48.12 6 3 Avognan Nogboun 48.24 7 2 José Carvalho 48.47

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were held on July 26, 1976.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 6 Herman Frazier 46.52 2 3 Fons Brijdenbach 46.56 3 1 Karl Honz 46.94 4 5 Alfonso Di Guida 47.07 5 2 Ossi Karttunen 47.45 6 4 Peter Grant 47.69 7 7 Alfred Daley 48.46 8 8 Glenn Bogue 48.98

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1 Rick Mitchell 45.76 2 7 Alberto Juantorena 45.92 3 4 Jerzy Pietrzyk 46.30 4 8 Brian Saunders 46.42 5 3 Leighton Priestley 46.45 6 5 Mike Sands 46.48 7 2 Iván Mangual 46.56 8 6 Charles Joseph 46.61

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 7 Mike Solomon 45.83 2 8 Jan Werner 45.88 3 2 Maxie Parks 45.99 4 3 Bernd Herrmann 46.07 5 1 Markku Kukkoaho 46.24 6 6 Eddy Gutiérrez 46.65 7 4 Glen Cohen 47.67 — — Don Domansky

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1 Fred Newhouse 45.97 2 2 David Jenkins 46.18 3 7 Franz-Peter Hofmeister 46.20 4 8 Delmo da Silva 46.48 5 4 Jozo Alebić 46.94 6 3 Zbigniew Jaremski 47.10 7 6 Fred Sowerby 48.03 8 5 Raymond Heerenveen 48.88

Semifinals

The semifinals were held on July 28, 1976.

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 7 Alberto Juantorena 45.10 2 3 Fons Brijdenbach 45.28 3 5 Maxie Parks 45.61 4 1 Rick Mitchell 45.69 5 8 Bernd Herrmann 45.94 6 2 Brian Saunders 46.46 7 4 Alfonso Di Guida 46.50 8 6 Delmo da Silva 46.69

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Fred Newhouse 44.89 2 7 David Jenkins 45.20 3 4 Herman Frazier 45.24 4 6 Jan Werner 45.44 5 3 Jerzy Pietrzyk 45.65 6 8 Franz-Peter Hofmeister 46.05 7 1 Mike Solomon 46.20 8 5 Karl Honz 46.63

Final

The final was held on July 29, 1976.

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time 2 Alberto Juantorena 44.26 4 Fred Newhouse 44.40 3 Herman Frazier 44.95 48 Fons Brijdenbach 45.04 57 Maxie Parks 45.24 66 Rick Mitchell 45.40 75 David Jenkins 45.57 81 Jan Werner 45.63

References