Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres

Last updated

Contents

Women's 400 metres
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Venue Athens Olympic Stadium
Dates21–24 August
Competitors42 from 31 nations
Winning time49.42
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Tonique Williams-Darling Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas
Silver medal icon.svg Ana Guevara Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico
Bronze medal icon.svg Natalya Antyukh Flag of Russia.svg  Russia
  2000
2008  

The women's 400 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 21 to 24. [1] The winning margin was 0.14 seconds.

The first round had split a full roster of runners into eight heats with the first three gaining a direct qualification and then the next six fastest across all heats advancing to the semifinals. The top two runners in each of the three semifinal heats moved on directly to the final, and they are immediately joined by the next two fastest from any of the semifinals.

Coming into the final, the fastest qualifiers were Monique Hennagan and Natalya Antyukh challenging each other in their semi final, Tonique Williams-Darling racing DeeDee Trotter in theirs, with world champion Ana Guevara cruising her semi final just staying ahead of Christine Amertil. In the final, Hennagan again went for the lead with Amertil and Natalya Nazarova each taking their shot at her in the first 200, only to fade after. Starting slightly slower, Williams came on strongly on the backstretch, marked by Guevara around the second turn. Coming off the turn Guevara had Williams where she wanted her, and Sanya Richards about even with Hennigan a couple of steps behind, with Antyukh and Trotter another step behind. Less than 50 meters from the finish, Guevara moved into the lead, but Williams kicked it into a different gear and pulled away to finish with gold. [2] [3] On the inside, Trotter rocketed past Richards and was gaining on Hennagan. Hennagan tried to fight, long striding with a slowing cadence to the finish, losing ground to a fast closing Antyukh. Defeated, Guevara gave up the fight and glided across the finish line with silver. 3 meters back, Antyukh clearly beat a wilting Hennagan, who still managed to hold off the fast closing Trotter.

Records

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

World recordFlag of East Germany.svg  Marita Koch  (GDR)47.60 s Canberra, Australia6 October 1985
Olympic recordFlag of France.svg  Marie-José Pérec  (FRA)48.25 s Atlanta, United States29 July 1996
World LeadingFlag of the Bahamas.svg  Tonique Williams-Darling  (BAH)49.15 s Paris, France23 July 2004

No new records were set during the competition.

Qualification

The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the men's 400 metres, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 51.50 seconds or faster during the qualification period. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run the race in 52.30 seconds or faster could be entered.

Schedule

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

DateTimeRound
Saturday, 21 August 200409:50Round 1
Sunday, 22 August 200422:20Semifinals
Tuesday, 24 August 200422:50Final

Results

Round 1

Qualification rule: The first three finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next six fastest overall runners (q) advanced to the semifinals. [4]

Heat 1

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
18 Ana Guevara Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 50.93Q
25 Lee McConnell Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 51.19Q
34 Grażyna Prokopek Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 51.29Q, PB
47 Fatou Bintou Fall Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 51.87q
52 Hortense Bewouda Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon 52.11
66 Oksana Luneva Flag of Kyrgyzstan (1992-2023).svg  Kyrgyzstan 52.94
73 Ruwida El-Hubti Flag of Libya (1977-2011).svg  Libya 1:03.57 NR

Heat 2

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
14 Monique Hennagan Flag of the United States.svg  United States 51.02Q
28 Mariyana Dimitrova Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 51.29Q
37 Kaltouma Nadjina Flag of Chad.svg  Chad 51.50Q
43 Nadia Davy Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 52.04
52 Maria Laura Almirão Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 52.10
66 Kirsi Mykkänen Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 52.53
75 Bo Fanfang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 56.01

Heat 3

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
13 Natalya Nazarova Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 50.82Q
27 Donna Fraser Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 51.19Q
32 Hazel-Ann Regis Flag of Grenada.svg  Grenada 51.66Q
45 Estie Wittstock Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 51.89q
56 Amy Mbacké Thiam Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 52.44
68 Amantle Montsho Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana 53.77 NR
74 Zamira Amirova Flag of Uzbekistan (3-2).svg  Uzbekistan 54.43

Heat 4

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
17 Natalya Antyukh Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 50.54Q
25 DeeDee Trotter Flag of the United States.svg  United States 50.56Q
36 Novlene Williams Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 50.59Q, PB
43 Aliann Pompey Flag of Guyana.svg  Guyana 51.33q
58 Egle Uljas Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia 51.91q, NR
62 Svetlana Bodritskaya Flag of Kazakhstan (3-2).svg  Kazakhstan 53.35
74 Shifana Ali Flag of Maldives.svg  Maldives 1:00.92 NR

Heat 5

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
18 Tonique Williams-Darling Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas 51.20Q
25 Sviatlana Usovich Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus 51.37Q
33 Antonina Yefremova Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 51.53Q
42 Mireille Nguimgo Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon 51.90q
54 Allison Beckford Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 52.85
67 Sandrine Thiébaud-Kangni Flag of Togo.svg  Togo 52.87
76 Damayanthi Dharsha Flag of Sri Lanka.svg  Sri Lanka 54.58

Heat 6

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
12 Sanya Richards Flag of the United States.svg  United States 50.11Q
23 Christine Amertil Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas 50.23Q, PB
37 Christine Ohuruogu Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 50.50Q, PB
48 Tiandra Ponteen Flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis.svg  Saint Kitts and Nevis 51.17q
54 Geisa Coutinho Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 52.18
65 Makelesi Bulikiobo Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 53.58
76 Salamtou Hassane Flag of Niger.svg  Niger 1:03.28 NR

Semifinals

Qualification rule: The first two finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next two fastest overall runners (q) moved on to the final. [5]

Semifinal 1

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
14 Ana Guevara Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 50.15Q
23 Christine Amertil Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas 50.17Q, PB
35 Sanya Richards Flag of the United States.svg  United States 50.54q
41 Christine Ohuruogu Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 51.00
52 Tiandra Ponteen Flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis.svg  Saint Kitts and Nevis 51.33
66 Sviatlana Usovich Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus 51.42
77 Hazel-Ann Regis Flag of Grenada.svg  Grenada 51.47
88 Egle Uljas Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia 53.13

Semifinal 2

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
14 Tonique Williams-Darling Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas 50.00Q
25 DeeDee Trotter Flag of the United States.svg  United States 50.14Q, PB
33 Natalya Nazarova Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 50.63q
41 Fatou Bintou Fall Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 51.21
58 Kaltouma Nadjina Flag of Chad.svg  Chad 51.57
62 Estie Wittstock Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 51.77
76 Donna Fraser Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 51.94
87 Grażyna Prokopek Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 51.96

Semifinal 3

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
15 Monique Hennagan Flag of the United States.svg  United States 49.88Q
24 Natalya Antyukh Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 50.04Q
31 Novlene Williams Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 50.85
46 Mariyana Dimitrova Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 51.20PB
57 Aliann Pompey Flag of Guyana.svg  Guyana 51.61
62 Antonina Yefremova Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 51.90
78 Mireille Nguimgo Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon 52.21
83 Lee McConnell Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 52.63

Final

[6]

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4 Tonique Williams-Darling Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas 49.42
Silver medal icon.svg3 Ana Guevara Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 49.56SB
Bronze medal icon.svg6 Natalya Antyukh Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 49.89
45 Monique Hennagan Flag of the United States.svg  United States 49.97
51 DeeDee Trotter Flag of the United States.svg  United States 50.00PB
62 Sanya Richards Flag of the United States.svg  United States 50.19
78 Christine Amertil Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas 50.37
87 Natalya Nazarova Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 50.65

References

  1. "Athletics at the 2004 Athens Summer Games: Women's 400 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  2. "Tonique Williams-Darling Wins Gold Medal". The Bahamas Post. 24 August 2004. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  3. "Williams claims 400m gold". BBC Sport. 24 August 2004. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  4. "IAAF Athens 2004: Women's 400m Heats". Athens 2004 . IAAF . Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  5. "IAAF Athens 2004: Women's 400m Semifinals". Athens 2004 . IAAF . Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  6. "IAAF Athens 2004: Women's 400m Final". Athens 2004 . IAAF . Retrieved 12 October 2015.