Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres

Women's 400 metres at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Christine Ohuruogu after her victory
Venue	Beijing National Stadium
Dates	16 August 2008 (heats) 17 August 2008 (semi-finals) 19 August 2008 (final)
Competitors	50 from 40 nations
Winning time	49.62 s
Medalists
Christine Ohuruogu   Great Britain   Shericka Williams   Jamaica   Sanya Richards   United States

Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
5000 m		men		women
10,000 m		men		women
100 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men		women
3000 m steeplechase		men		women
4 × 100 m relay		men		women
4 × 400 m relay		men		women
Road events
Marathon		men		women
20 km walk		men		women
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men		women
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men		women
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men		women
Combined events
Heptathlon				women
Decathlon		men

The Women's 400 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 16–19 August at the Beijing National Stadium.^[1]

The qualifying standards were 51.55 s (A standard) and 52.35 s (B standard).^[2]

Favourites for the event included Sanya Richards-Ross and the reigning world champion, Christine Ohuruogu. In the final, Richards-Ross made a rapid start and quickly took the lead, while Ohuruogu ran a more even-paced race, but was well down the field entering the final straight. However, in the last 100 metres Richard-Ross, clearly tired from her earlier effort, began to tie up badly, while Ohuruogu began to surge through the field. At the line, Great Britain's Christine Ohuruogu won in 49.62 seconds to add the Olympic title to her World title, just pipping Shericka Williams by 0.07 seconds to take gold. Richards-Ross faded to third, and bronze, in 49.93.^[3]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

World record	Marita Koch (GDR)	47.60 s	Canberra, Australia	6 October 1985
Olympic record	Marie-José Pérec (FRA)	48.25 s	Atlanta, U.S.	29 July 1996

No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

Results

Round 1

Qualification: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) advance to the Semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	5	Richards, SanyaSanya Richards	United States	50.54	Q
2	7	Williams, SherickaShericka Williams	Jamaica	50.57	Q
3	7	Firova, TatianaTatiana Firova	Russia	50.59	Q
4	2	Grenot Martinez, LibaniaLibania Grenot Martinez	Italy	50.87	Q, NR
5	2	Montsho, AmantleAmantle Montsho	Botswana	50.91	Q
6	5	Pompey, AliannAliann Pompey	Guyana	50.99	Q, SB
7	1	Whyte, RosemarieRosemarie Whyte	Jamaica	51.00	Q
7	4	Ohuruogu, ChristineChristine Ohuruogu	Great Britain	51.00	Q
9	4	Gushchina, YuliaYulia Gushchina	Russia	51.18	Q
10	1	Amertil, ChristineChristine Amertil	Bahamas	51.25	Q, SB
11	3	Kapachinskaya, AnastasiaAnastasia Kapachinskaya	Russia	51.32	Q
12	1	Odumosu, AjokeAjoke Odumosu	Nigeria	51.39	Q, PB
13	1	Trotter, DeedeeDeedee Trotter	United States	51.41	q
14	5	Abugan, FolashadeFolashade Abugan	Nigeria	51.45	Q
15	3	Wineberg, MaryMary Wineberg	United States	51.46	Q
16	6	Williams, NovleneNovlene Williams	Jamaica	51.52	Q
17	2	Muir, CarlineCarline Muir	Canada	51.55	Q, PB
18	2	Terrero, IndiraIndira Terrero	Cuba	51.56	q
19	7	Nachula, RachaelRachael Nachula	Zambia	50.62	Q
20	6	Sanders, NicolaNicola Sanders	Great Britain	51.81	Q
21	3	McConnell, LeeLee McConnell	Great Britain	51.87	Q
22	4	Medina, GabrielaGabriela Medina	Mexico	51.96	Q
23	7	Eze, Joy AmechiJoy Amechi Eze	Nigeria	51.97	q
24	2	Bulikiobo, MakelesiMakelesi Bulikiobo	Fiji	52.24	SB
25	4	Lewis, TamsynTamsyn Lewis	Australia	52.38
26	7	Kallinikou, AlissaAlissa Kallinikou	Cyprus	52.40
27	1	Ponteen, TiandraTiandra Ponteen	Saint Kitts and Nevis	52.41
28	5	Tanno, AsamiAsami Tanno	Japan	52.60
29	5	Ntova, DimitraDimitra Ntova	Greece	52.69
30	6	El Jack, NawalNawal El Jack	Sudan	52.77	Q
31	7	Bejnar, MonikaMonika Bejnar	Poland	52.80
32	6	Alexander, KinekeKineke Alexander	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	52.87
33	2	Kaur, MandeepMandeep Kaur	India	52.88
33	6	Bartholomew, TrishTrish Bartholomew	Grenada	52.88
35	3	Petrahn, BarbaraBarbara Petrahn	Hungary	53.06
36	3	Rodriguez, CarolCarol Rodriguez	Puerto Rico	53.08
37	1	Yefremova, AntoninaAntonina Yefremova	Ukraine	53.22
38	4	Almirao, Maria LauraMaria Laura Almirao	Brazil	53.26
39	4	Cuddihy, JoanneJoanne Cuddihy	Ireland	53.32
40	5	Tereshkova, OlgaOlga Tereshkova	Kazakhstan	53.36
41	3	Etienne, GinouGinou Etienne	Haiti	53.94
42	5	Davis, KiaKia Davis	Liberia	53.99
43	6	Thipe, TsholofeloTsholofelo Thipe	South Africa	54.11
44	2	Bayigga, JustineJustine Bayigga	Uganda	54.15
45	7	Thiébaud-Kangni, SandrineSandrine Thiébaud-Kangni	Togo	54.16
46	6	Shala, KlodianaKlodiana Shala	Albania	54.84
47	6	Batgerel, MunguntuyaMunguntuya Batgerel	Mongolia	58.14
48	7	Dlamini, TemalangeniTemalangeni Dlamini	Swaziland	59.91
49	3	Seini Maikido, RachidatouRachidatou Seini Maikido	Niger	1:03.19	NR
50	4	Ali, GhadaGhada Ali	Libya	1:06.19

Semifinals

Qualification: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest {q} advance to the Final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	Richards, SanyaSanya Richards	United States	49.90	Q
2	1	Ohuruogu, ChristineChristine Ohuruogu	Great Britain	50.14	Q, SB
3	1	Williams, SherickaShericka Williams	Jamaica	50.28	Q, SB
4	2	Kapachinskaya, AnastasiaAnastasia Kapachinskaya	Russia	50.30	Q, PB
5	1	Firova, TatianaTatiana Firova	Russia	50.31	q
6	3	Gushchina, YuliaYulia Gushchina	Russia	50.48	Q
7	3	Montsho, AmantleAmantle Montsho	Botswana	50.54	Q
8	3	Whyte, RosemarieRosemarie Whyte	Jamaica	50.63	q
9	3	Sanders, NicolaNicola Sanders	Great Britain	50.71	SB
10	3	Grenot Martinez, LibaniaLibania Grenot Martinez	Italy	50.83	NR
11	1	Pompey, AliannAliann Pompey	Guyana	50.93	=NR
12	2	Williams, NovleneNovlene Williams	Jamaica	51.06
13	1	Wineberg, MaryMary Wineberg	United States	51.13
14	3	Abugan, FolashadeFolashade Abugan	Nigeria	51.30
15	2	Amertil, ChristineChristine Amertil	Bahamas	51.51
16	1	Terrero, IndiraIndira Terrero	Cuba	51.80
17	2	Eze, Joy AmechiJoy Amechi Eze	Nigeria	51.87
17	3	Trotter, DeedeeDeedee Trotter	United States	51.87
19	2	McConnell, LeeLee McConnell	Great Britain	52.11
20	2	Muir, CarlineCarline Muir	Canada	52.37
21	1	Odumosu, AjokeAjoke Odumosu	Nigeria	52.45
22	2	Nachula, RachaelRachael Nachula	Zambia	52.67
23	1	Medina, GabrielaGabriela Medina	Mexico	52.97
24	3	El Jack, NawalNawal El Jack	Sudan	54.18

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	4	Ohuruogu, ChristineChristine Ohuruogu	Great Britain	49.62	WL
	6	Williams, SherickaShericka Williams	Jamaica	49.69	PB
	7	Richards, SanyaSanya Richards	United States	49.93
4	5	Gushchina, YuliaYulia Gushchina	Russia	50.01	PB
5	2	Whyte, RosemarieRosemarie Whyte	Jamaica	50.68
6	8	Montsho, AmantleAmantle Montsho	Botswana	51.18
DSQ	9	Kapachinskaya, AnastasiaAnastasia Kapachinskaya	Russia	50.03	PB
DSQ	3	Firova, TatianaTatiana Firova	Russia	50.11	SB

References

1. "Olympic Athletics Competition Schedule". IAAF. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
2. "Entry Standards - The XXIX Olympic Games - Beijing, China - 8/24 August 2008". IAAF. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
3. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/2587119/Christine-Ohuruogu-the-star-of-golden-day-for-Britain-at-Beijing-Olympics-Olympics.html