The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα and ἄθλος. Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not by the position achieved. The decathlon is contested mainly by male athletes, while female athletes typically compete in the heptathlon.
The World Athletics Championships are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics. The World Championships were started in 1976 in response to the International Olympic Committee dropping the men's 50 km walk from the Olympic programme for the 1976 Montreal Olympics, despite its constant presence at the games since 1932. The IAAF chose to host its own world championship event instead, a month and a half after the Olympics. It was the first World Championships that the IAAF had hosted separate from the Olympic Games. A second limited event was held in 1980, and the inaugural championships in 1983, with all the events, is considered the official start of the competition. Until 1980, the Olympic champions were considered as reigning World Champions. At their debut, these championhips were then held every four years, until 1991, when they switched to a two-year cycle since.
The 400 metres, or 400 metre dash, is a sprinting event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is one lap around the track. Runners start in staggered positions and race in separate lanes for the entire course. In many countries, athletes previously competed in the 440 yard dash (402.336 m)—which is a quarter of a mile and was referred to as the 'quarter-mile'—instead of the 400 m (437.445 yards), though this distance is now obsolete.
Alvin Leonardo Harrison is an American former track and field athlete who competed in sprinting events. He won a gold medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay at both the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics and a silver medal in the 400 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, the first 500 metres is run in lanes. Start lines are thus staggered over a greater distance than in an individual 400 metres race; the runners then typically move to the inside of the track. The slightly longer 4 × 440 yards relay was a formerly run British and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.
Sandra Glover is an African American former track and field athlete who competed in the 400-meter hurdles. She was a medalist in that event at the World Championships in Athletics in 2003 (silver) and 2005 (bronze). She also represented her country at the 2000 Summer Olympics. She was the national champion at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships for four consecutive years from 1999 to 2002. She had five victories on the IAAF Golden League circuit during her career.
Troy Douglas is a former Dutch sprinter. Originally competing for Bermuda, he finished second at the 1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships in the 200 metres event, but he changed nationality to the Netherlands in 1998. For Bermuda he participated at the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics, reaching the semi finals on the 200 metres in 1996 as well as the semi finals on the 400 metres in 1992 and 1996. He finished 5th in the final of the 200 metres at the 1991 Pan American Games.
Vera Ivanovna Popkova was a Soviet track and field athlete who competed in the sprints. She had personal bests of 11.3 seconds for the 100 metres and 23.0 seconds for the 200 metres. Over her career, she won eight individual national titles in the sprints.
Ibrahima Wade is a French sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. He switched nationality from his birth country Senegal in 2000.
Alfons ("Fons") Brydenbach was a Belgian sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres. He is a former world indoor record holder.
Shirley Ngarita Peterson is a New Zealand track and field athlete. She represented her country at the 1950 British Empire Games, winning a silver medal in the women's 440 yards relay. From 1980, she became active in masters athletics, setting world records in various events and age-group categories, and winning multiple world masters athletics championship titles.
Botswana made its Paralympic Games début at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens. The country sent a single representative to compete in athletics. She set a world record and won a gold medal in the T46 women's 400m.
Fred Sowerby is a track and field athlete from Antigua and Barbuda, known primarily for running the 400 metres.
Steven Solomon is an Australian Olympic sprinter. He is a five-time defending Australian 400 metres champion.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo is a Bahamian athlete sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 metres. She was the 400 metres Olympic champion in 2016 and was the 200 m gold medallist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. At the World Championships in Athletics she won 400 m silver in 2015 and 2019 and 200 m bronze in 2017.
The sports under the umbrella of athletics, particularly track and field, use a variety of statistics. In order to report that information efficiently, numerous abbreviations have grown to be common in the sport.
Noel Stanley Clough is an Australian former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres, 800 metres, and 400 metres hurdles.
Kyron McMaster is an athlete from the British Virgin Islands specialising in the 400 metres hurdles.
The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, as part of the athletics programme, took place in the Carrara Stadium on 10 and 12 April 2018.
The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha from 27 to 30 September 2019.
