The men's 110 metre hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 24 to 27. Forty-seven athletes from 34 nations competed. The event was won by Liu Xiang of China, the nation's first medal in the event. Terrence Trammell and Anier García became the 11th and 12th men to win multiple medals in the 110 metres hurdles.

Summary

Ladji Doucouré was the leader in all of the preliminary rounds, but in the final, Liu Xiang led from the gun, running a flawless race to take the Olympic record and match Colin Jackson's world record with an identical 12.91. Behind him, returning silver medalist Terrence Trammell had a slight lead despite touching nearly every hurdle. As a result of these errors, Staņislavs Olijars appeared to edge ahead, but Olijars hit the sixth hurdle and slowed out of contention. Coming back from an abysmal start, Doucouré became the next to edge ahead, looking like a lock for silver until he struck the final hurdle, leaving Doucouré to stumble across the finish in dead last. Trammell edged García to win his second successive silver.

Background

This was the 25th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Five finalists from 2000 returned: gold medalist Anier García of Cuba, silver medalist Terrence Trammell and fourth-place finisher (and 1996 gold medalist) Allen Johnson of the United States, seventh-place finisher Dudley Dorival of Haiti, and eighth-place finisher Robert Kronberg of Sweden. Johnson had won the last two World Championships in 2001 and 2003 (along with the 1995 and 1997 worlds). But Liu Xiang of China, who had finished third at the 2003 worlds, had a strong first half of 2004 and was favored in Athens. World runner-up Terrence Trammell of the United States was also a challenger.

Croatia, Ecuador, Estonia, Georgia, Indonesia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, and Ukraine each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 24th appearance, most of any nation (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).

Qualification

The qualification period for Athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the men's 110 metres hurdles, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 13.55 seconds or faster during the qualification period. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run the race in 13.72 seconds or faster could be entered.

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 top four runners in each of the initial six heats automatically qualified for the second round. The next eight fastest runners from across the heats also qualified. Those 32 runners competed in 4 heats in the second round, with the top three runners from each heat and the four next fastest runners qualifying for the semifinals. There were two semifinal heats, and only the top four from each heat advanced to the final.

Records Prior to the competition, the existing World record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows:

Liu Xiang equalled the world record in the final, setting a new Olympic and Asian record.

Date Round Athlete Time Notes 14 August Final 12.91 =, ,

The following national records were established during the competition:

Nation Athlete Round Time Notes Ladji Doucouré Heat 1 13.18 Satoru Tanigawa Heat 1 13.39 Joseph-Berlioz Randriamihaja Heat 1 13.46 Todd Matthews-Jouda Heat 2 13.47 Paulo Villar Heat 4 13.44 Stephen Jones Heat 5 13.56 Jackson Quiñónez Heat 6 13.44 Maurice Wignall Semifinal 1 13.17 Ladji Doucouré Semifinal 2 13.06 Liu Xiang Final 12.91 =, ,

Schedule

All rounds were held on separate days for the first time since 1972.

All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round Tuesday, 24 August 2004 09:35 Round 1 Wednesday, 25 August 2004 22:15 Quarterfinals Thursday, 26 August 2004 21:00 Semifinals Friday, 27 August 2004 21:30 Final

Results

Round 1

Qualification rule: The first four finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next eight fastest overall runners (q) qualified.

Heat 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes18 Ladji Doucouré 0.205 13.18 , NR24 Staņislavs Olijars 0.154 13.27 35 Satoru Tanigawa 0.128 13.39 , NR43 Márcio de Souza 0.162 13.43 , 57 Joseph-Berlioz Randriamihaja 0.168 13.46 , NR61 Felipe Vivancos 0.113 13.47 , 72 Jerome Crews 0.178 13.83 86 Nenad Lončar 0.157 14.02 Wind: +1.5 m/s

Heat 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes11 Dudley Dorival 0.169 13.39 , 24 Yoel Hernández 0.176 13.41 38 Chris Pinnock 0.192 13.42 , 42 Todd Matthews-Jouda 0.170 13.47 , NR53 Terrence Trammell 0.185 13.51 65 Shaun Bownes 0.164 13.52 76 Damjan Zlatnar 0.132 13.66 , =NR87 Jurica Grabušić 0.166 13.87 Wind: +1.8 m/s

Heat 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes14 Liu Xiang 0.128 13.27 26 Charles Allen 0.149 13.35 , 37 Robert Kronberg 0.179 13.47 45 Igor Peremota 0.142 13.54 52 Masato Naito 0.162 13.56 , 61 Serhiy Demydyuk 0.163 13.80 73 Park Tae-kyong 0.179 13.96 88 Luís Sá 0.177 14.01 Wind: +1.3 m/s

Heat 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes14 Paulo Villar 0.193 13.44 , 25 Matheus Inocêncio 0.157 13.45 , =32 Allen Johnson 0.176 13.45 41 Evgeny Pechonkin 0.150 13.64 57 Gregory Sedoc 0.186 13.65 68 Shi Dongpeng 0.156 13.68 76 Robert Newton 0.176 13.8583 Edy Jakariya 0.188 14.11 NR Wind: -1.3 m/s

Heat 5

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes12 Anier García 0.158 13.24 , 24 Duane Ross 0.162 13.39 37 Mike Fenner 0.160 13.53 , 46 Stephen Jones 0.184 13.56 , NR51 Sergey Chepiga 0.160 13.59 68 David Ilariani 0.168 13.72 73 Levente Csillag 0.148 13.74 85 Andy Turner 0.155 13.75 Wind: +0.8 m/s

Heat 6

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes16 Maurice Wignall 0.160 13.30 , =26 Richard Phillips 0.138 13.39 , 36 Jackson Quiñónez 0.167 13.44 , NR46 Yuniel Hernández 0.151 13.48 , =56 Sultan Tucker 0.181 13.76 66 Tarmo Jallai 0.150 13.7776 Mubarak Ata Mubarak 0.134 13.81 — 6 Redelén Melo dos Santos Wind: +1.2 m/s

Quarterfinals

Qualification rule: The first three finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next four fastest overall runners (q) qualified.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes13 Ladji Doucouré 0.198 13.23 24 Charles Allen 0.149 13.30 , 38 Robert Kronberg 0.154 13.39 , 45 Duane Ross 0.155 13.50 51 Evgeny Pechonkin 0.151 13.5367 Joseph-Berlioz Randriamihaja 0.210 13.6476 Jackson Quiñónez 0.163 13.67 — 2 Damjan Zlatnar Wind: +1.5 m/s

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes15 Staņislavs Olijars 0.169 13.26 24 Anier García 0.159 13.28 33 Richard Phillips 0.161 13.44 42 Felipe Vivancos 0.154 13.48 58 Mike Fenner 0.128 13.53 =67 Stephen Jones 0.227 13.85 — 6 Allen Johnson 0.190 1 Gregory Sedoc 0.238 Wind: +1.5 m/s

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes16 Liu Xiang 0.202 13.27 24 Yoel Hernández 0.200 13.29 , 37 Terrence Trammell 0.220 13.34 43 Chris Pinnock 0.195 13.47 52 Márcio de Souza 0.165 13.5461 Masato Naito 0.157 13.54 78 Igor Peremota 0.130 13.6485 Paulo Villar 0.176 14.03 Wind: +1.5 m/s

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes14 Matheus Inocêncio 0.140 13.33 , 23 Dudley Dorival 0.157 13.39 , =36 Maurice Wignall 0.157 13.39 41 Yuniel Hernández 0.137 13.46 , 57 Sergey Chepiga 0.190 13.5562 Shaun Bownes 0.156 13.6275 Satoru Tanigawa 0.147 13.7088 Todd Matthews-Jouda 0.203 13.77 Wind: +1.5 m/s

Semifinals Qualification rule: The first four finishers in each heat (Q) moved on to the final.

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes17 Maurice Wignall 0.162 13.17 , NR24 Liu Xiang 0.151 13.18 36 Staņislavs Olijars 0.151 13.20 , 43 Charles Allen 0.150 13.23 , 58 Duane Ross 0.157 13.3065 Yoel Hernández 0.174 13.3771 Robert Kronberg 0.124 13.4282 Chris Pinnock 0.196 13.57 Wind: -0.1 m/s

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes15 Ladji Doucouré 0.200 13.06 , NR22 Terrence Trammell 0.165 13.17 36 Anier García 0.172 13.30 43 Matheus Inocêncio 0.154 13.34 54 Dudley Dorival 0.162 13.39 =67 Richard Phillips 0.143 13.4778 Felipe Vivancos 0.144 13.52 — 1 Yuniel Hernández Wind: +0.0 m/s

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 4 Liu Xiang 0.139 12.91 , , NR 6 Terrence Trammell 0.154 13.18 7 Anier García 0.169 13.20 45 Maurice Wignall 0.164 13.21 52 Staņislavs Olijars 0.174 13.21 61 Charles Allen 0.139 13.48 78 Matheus Inocêncio 0.169 13.49 83 Ladji Doucouré 0.204 13.76 Wind: +0.3 m/s

References

External links IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage