Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres hurdles

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Women's 400 metres hurdles
at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Venue Olympic Stadium
Dates25 September 1988 (heats)
27 September 1988 (semi-finals)
28 September 1988 (final)
Competitors35 from 25 nations
Winning time53.17 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Debbie Flintoff-King
Flag of Australia.svg  Australia
Silver medal icon.svg Tatyana Ledovskaya
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union
Bronze medal icon.svg Ellen Fiedler
Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany
  1984
1992  

The Women's 400 metres Hurdles at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entry list of 35 competitors, with five qualifying heats and two semifinals (16) before the final (8) took place on Wednesday September 28, 1988. [1]

In 1987, the former world record holder Sabine Busch of the GDR, improved her best to 53.24 seconds, before going on to win the World Championship title in Rome in 53.62 secs, with Debbie Flintoff-King of Australia second, GDR team-mate Cornelia Ullrich third, and Jamaica's Sandra Farmer fourth. Both Ullrich and Farmer, who was now competing for the USA as Sandra Farmer-Patrick, failed to make it to Seoul. Farmer-Patrick was disqualified in her semifinal at the US Olympic trials for a lane infringement, while Ullrich missed out on a spot on the GDR Olympic team to Ellen Fiedler and Susanne Losch.

In Seoul, Fiedler set a new Olympic record in the heats, running 54.58 secs. Flintoff-King then further improved the Olympic record to 54.00 in the first semifinal, finishing just ahead of the little-known Soviet Tatyana Ledovskaya, who ran 54.01. Fiedler won the second semifinal in 54.28, with world champion Busch fourth.

In the final, Ledovskaya (lane 3) made the fastest start and still held a narrow lead at the eighth hurdle, with Fiedler (lane 6) second, Busch (lane 7) third and Flintoff-King (lane 5) back in fifth. By the tenth hurdle, Ledovskaya still led from Fiedler, with Flintoff-King closing and moving into third ahead of Bush. Flintoff-King continued to close on the run-in and passed Ledovskaya in the final stride, winning in the new Olympic record time of 53.17, to move to second on the world all-time list. Ledovskaya took the silver in 53.18, with Fiedler holding off Busch for the bronze, running 53.63 to Busch's 53.69. With six of the top seven running personal bests, the Seoul final rewrote the all-time list, with fifth-placed Sally Gunnell (54.03) and sixth-placed Gudrun Abt (54.04), moving to number 10 and 11 on the all-time list.

Medalists

Gold Debbie Flintoff-King
Flag of Australia.svg Australia
Silver Tatyana Ledovskaya
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union
Bronze Ellen Fiedler
Flag of East Germany.svg East Germany

Records

These were the standing World and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics.

World Record52.94 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Marina Stepanova Stuttgart (FRG)September 17, 1986
Olympic Record54.61 Flag of Morocco.svg Nawal El Moutawakel Los Angeles (USA)August 8, 1984

The following Olympic records were set during this competition.

DateEventAthleteTimeORWR
September 25, 1988QuarterfinalFlag of East Germany.svg  Ellen Fiedler  (GDR)54.58 sOR
September 26, 1988SemifinalFlag of Australia.svg  Debbie Flintoff-King  (AUS)54.00 sOR
September 28, 1988FinalFlag of Australia.svg  Debbie Flintoff-King  (AUS)53.17 sOR

Final

RANKFINALTIME
Med 1.png Flag of Australia.svg  Debbie Flintoff-King  (AUS)53.17(OR)
Med 2.png Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Tatyana Ledovskaya  (URS)53.18
Med 3.png Flag of East Germany.svg  Ellen Fiedler  (GDR)53.63
4.Flag of East Germany.svg  Sabine Busch  (GDR)53.69
5.Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Sally Gunnell  (GBR)54.03
6.Flag of Germany.svg  Gudrun Abt  (FRG)54.04
7.Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Tatyana Kourochkina  (URS)54.39
8.Flag of the United States.svg  LaTanya Sheffield  (USA)55.32

Semi finals

RANKHEAT 1TIME
1.Flag of Australia.svg  Debbie Flintoff-King  (AUS)54.00(OR)
2.Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Tatyana Ledovskaya  (URS)54.01
3.Flag of the United States.svg  LaTanya Sheffield  (USA)54.36
4.Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Sally Gunnell  (GBR)54.48
5.Civil Ensign of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Anita Protti  (SUI)54.56
6.Flag of East Germany.svg  Susanne Losch  (GDR)55.56
7.Flag of Poland.svg  Genowefa Błaszak  (POL)56.76
8.Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Gretha Tromp  (NED)57.57


RANKHEAT 2TIME
1.Flag of East Germany.svg  Ellen Fiedler  (GDR)54.28
2.Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Tatyana Kourochkina  (URS)54.46
3.Flag of Germany.svg  Gudrun Abt  (FRG)54.53
4.Flag of East Germany.svg  Sabine Busch  (GDR)54.71
5.Flag of Spain.svg  Cristina Pérez  (ESP)55.23
6.Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Elaine McLaughlin  (GBR)55.91
7.Flag of the United States.svg  Schowonda Williams  (USA)56.71
8.Flag of France.svg  Chantal Beaugeant  (FRA)56.94

Qualifying heats

RANKHEAT 1TIME
1.Flag of East Germany.svg  Susanne Losch  (GDR)55.90
2.Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Tatyana Ledovskaya  (URS)55.91
3.Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Elaine McLaughlin  (GBR)56.11
4.Flag of Kenya.svg  Rose Tata-Muya  (KEN)56.18
5.Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Marie Womplou  (CIV)57.35
6.Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Christine Wynn  (CAN)58.00
7.Flag of India.svg  P.T. Usha  (IND)59.55


RANKHEAT 2TIME
1.Flag of East Germany.svg  Sabine Busch  (GDR)55.96
2.Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Gretha Tromp  (NED)56.11
3.Flag of Poland.svg  Genowefa Błaszak  (POL)56.18
4.Flag of Australia.svg  Jennifer Laurendet  (AUS)56.44
5.Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Rosey Edeh  (CAN)56.59
6.Flag of Uganda.svg  Ruth Kyalisiima  (UGA)59.62
7.Flag of the Philippines (1936-1985, 1986-1998).svg  Nenita Adan  (PHI)1:01.92


RANKHEAT 3TIME
1.Flag of East Germany.svg  Ellen Fiedler  (GDR)54.58(OR)
2.Civil Ensign of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Anita Protti  (SUI)54.81
3.Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Tatyana Kurochkina  (URS)55.04
4.Flag of the United States.svg  Latanya Sheffield  (USA)55.61
5.Flag of Nigeria.svg  Maria Usifo  (NGR)55.99
6.Flag of Iceland.svg  Helga Halldórsdóttir  (ISL)58.99
7.Flag of South Korea (1984-1997).svg  Kim Soon-Ja  (KOR)59.78


RANKHEAT 4TIME
1.Flag of Australia.svg  Debbie Flintoff-King  (AUS)54.99
2.Flag of Spain.svg  Cristina Pérez  (ESP)55.29
3.Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Sally Gunnell  (GBR)55.44
4.Flag of Italy.svg  Irmgard Trojer  (ITA)55.74
5.Flag of the United States.svg  Leslie Maxie  (USA)57.60
6.Flag of Ireland (3-2).svg  Barbara Johnson  (IRL)58.61
7.Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg  Chang Fen-Hwa  (TPE)1:00.16


RANKHEAT 5TIME
1.Flag of Germany.svg  Gudrun Abt  (FRG)55.72
2.Flag of the United States.svg  Schowonda Williams  (USA)55.98
3.Flag of France.svg  Chantal Beaugeant  (FRA)56.03
4.Flag of Australia.svg  Sally Hamilton-Fleming  (AUS)56.08
5.Flag of Ecuador (1900-2009).svg  Liliana Chalá  (ECU)57.15
6.Flag of Turkey.svg  Semra Aksu  (TUR)57.20
7.Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Simone Laidlow  (GBR)59.28

See also

References

  1. "Athletics at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games: Women's 400 metres Hurdles". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2017.