Summer Olympics: 400m hurdles winning times 1900-2020

The 400 meter hurdles has featured in all but two Olympic Games as a men's event, and in all Olympics since 1984 as a women's event. Throughout this time, athletes from the United States have secured 18 out of 26 gold medals in the men's event, while American, Jamaican, and Russian athletes have taken the gold twice each in the women's event. Four men have won the gold medal twice, and the most recent to do so was Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic in 2004 and 2012.

2020 Records

The 2020 Games proved significant for the event, with both winners also setting new Olympic and World Records in their respective finals. Kevin Young's Olympic record of 46.78 seconds had stood since 1992, and the women's record had been set in 2008; however, both McLaughlin and Warholm had set new world records in the six weeks leading up to the Tokyo Games. In the final of the men's event, all three medallists beat the previous Olympic record, and Warholm beat his own World Record by 0.76 seconds. A similar story occurred the following day in the women's final, where all three medallists beat the Olympic record, and McLaughlin topped her own World Record by 0.44 seconds. In both races, the silver times were also faster than the previous World Record.

Gold medal winning times in the Men's and Women's 400m hurdles at the Summer Olympics from 1900 to 2020 (in seconds)

Year	Men	Women
Tokyo 2020	45.94	51.46
Rio 2016	47.73	53.13
London 2012	47.63	52.7
Beijing 2008	47.25	52.64
Athens 2004	47.63	52.82
Sydney 2000	47.5	53.02
Atlanta 1996	47.54	52.82
Barcelona 1992	46.78	53.23
Seoul 1988	47.19	53.17
Los Angeles 1984	47.75	54.61
Moscow 1980	48.7	-
Montreal 1976	47.64	-
Munich 1972	47.82	-
Mexico City 1968	48.1	-
Tokyo 1964	49.6	-
Rome 1960	49.3	-
Melbourne 1956	50.1	-
Helsinki 1952	50.8	-
London 1948	51.1	-
Berlin 1936	52.4	-
Los Angeles 1932	51.8	-
Amsterdam 1928	53.4	-
Paris 1924	52.6	-
Antwerp 1920	54	-
Stockholm 1912*	-	-
London 1908	55	-
St. Louis 1904	53	-
Paris 1900	57.6	-

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Release date

2019

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

1900 to 2021

Supplementary notes

This data was collected using the official Olympic.org site, as well as a spreadsheet from the Guardian that includes data from 1896-2008 (available here), 2012 and 2016 data was compared with that from Encyclopaedia Britannica, and several news outlets were used to update the table when medals were reassigned (i.e. for doping offenses).

The winning athletes (male listed first) and their represented countries are as follows:
1900 - Walter Tewksbury (U.S.)
1904 - Harry Hillman (U.S.)
1908 - Charles Bacon (U.S.)
*1912 - Not included in Olympic Games
1920 - Frank Loomis (U.S.)
1924 - Morgan Taylor (U.S.)
1928 - David George Burghley (Great Britain)
1932 - Robert Morton Newburgh Tisdall (Ireland)
1936 - Glenn Hardin (U.S.)
1948 - Roy Braxton Cochran (U.S.)
1952 - Charles Hewes Moore Jr. (U.S.)
1956 - Glenn Davis (U.S.)
1960 - Glenn Davis (U.S.)
1964 - Warren (Rex) Jay Cawley (U.S.)
1968 - David Hemrey (Great Britain)
1972 - John Aki-Bua (Uganda)
1976 - Edwin Moses (U.S.)
1980 - Volker Beck (East Germany)
1984 - Edwin Moses (U.S.) & Nawal El Moutawakel (Morocco)
1988 - Andre Phillips (U.S.) & Debbie Flintoff King (Jamaica)
1992 - Kevin Young (U.S.) & Sally Gunnell (Great Britain)
1996 - Derrick Adkins (U.S.) & Deon Marie Hemmings (Jamaica)
2000 - Angelo Taylor (U.S.) & Irina Privalova (Russia)
2004 - Felix Sanchez (Dominican Republic) & Fani Khalkia (Greece)
2008 - Angelo Taylor (U.S.) & Melanie Walker (Jamaica)
2012 - Felix Sanchez (Dominican Republic) & Natalya Antyukh (Russia)
2016 - Kerron Clement (U.S.) & Dalilah Muhammad (U.S.)
2020 - Karsten Warholm (Norway) & Sydney McLaughlin (U.S.)