1920 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	37 athletes from 16 countries
Competition location	Antwerp Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 19, 1920 (preliminary round / quarter-finals) August 20, 1920 (semi-finals / final)
Medalist Bevil Rudd ( ZAF )   Guy Butler ( GBR )   Nils Engdahl ( SWE )

The men's 400-meter race at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp was held on August 19 and 20, 1920 in the Antwerp Olympic Stadium. 37 athletes took part.

The South African Bevil Rudd was the Olympic champion ahead of the Briton Guy Butler . The Swede Nils Engdahl won bronze .

No athletes from Switzerland took part. Germany and Austria were excluded from the 1920 Olympic Games .

Existing records

World record	Ted Meredith ( United States )	47.4 s (race over 440 yards = 402.34 m)	Cambridge, Massachusetts	May 27, 1916
Olympic record	Charles Reidpath ( United States )	48.2 s	Stockholm	July 13, 1912

Conducting the competition

A total of ten preliminary runs were carried out on August 19 (9:30 a.m. local time). The athletes who finished in the first two places qualified for the quarter-finals, which took place on the same day at 3:15 p.m. In each of these four runs, the top three made it to the semi-finals of the following day. In both preliminary rounds, starting from 2 p.m., the first three runners qualified for the final, which started at 4.15 p.m.

Note: The runners qualified for the next round are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

Failed in the semifinals: world record holder Ted Meredith (USA)

Date: August 19, 1920, 9:30 a.m. local time

The times are not completely handed down.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Robert Lindsay	United Kingdom	52.0 s
2	Clarence Oldfield	South African Union	52.2 s
3	Tolly Bolin	Sweden	52.6 s

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Gaston Féry	France	51.1 s
2	John Ainsworth-Davis	United Kingdom	51.3 s
3	Karel Frankenstein	Czechoslovakia	51.8 s
4th	Frank Irvine	South African Union	k. A.

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Frank Shea	United States	50.8 s
2	Henry Dafel	South African Union	51.2 s
3	Sven Krokström	Sweden	51.6 s

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ted Meredith	United States	51.6 s
2	Géo André	France	52.3 s
3	Giuseppe Bernardoni	Italy	52.8 s

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Bevil Rudd	South African Union	50.6 s
2	Erik Wilén	Finland	51.1 s
3	Reinhold Saulmann	Estonia	51.6 s
4th	Giovanni Tosi	Italy	51.8 s

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Robert Emery	United States	52.6 s
2	Guy Butler	United Kingdom	53.2 s
3	Karel Přibyl	Czechoslovakia	54.0 s
4th	Jules Migeot	Belgium	55.1 s

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	George Schiller	United States	50.4 s
2	Nils Engdahl	Sweden	50.6 s
3	Maurice Delvart	France	50.9 s
4th	Einar Mangset	Norway	51.3 s

Forward 8

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Eric Sundblad	Sweden	52.0 s
2	Hector Phillips	Canada	52.3 s
3	Agide Simonazzi	Italy	53.0 s
4th	Purma Bannerjee	British India	53.1 s

Forward 9

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Omer Corteyn	Belgium	52.2 s
2	Hedges Worthington-Eyre	United Kingdom	52.5 s
3	Jean Proess	Luxembourg	52.6 s
4th	José García Lorenzana	Spain	52.8 s

Forward 10

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	François Morren	Belgium	51.6 s
2	Miguel García Onsalo	Spain	52.0 s
3	Eugène Bayon	France	52.4 s
4th	Ahmed Khairy	Egypt	k. A.

Quarter finals

Date: August 19, 1920, 3:15 p.m. local time

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Nils Engdahl	Sweden	50.4 s
2	John Ainsworth-Davis	United Kingdom	50.7 s
3	Robert Emery	United States	50.7 s
4th	François Morren	Belgium	50.8 s
5	Clarence Oldfield	South African Union	51.1 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Gaston Féry	France	50.6 s
2	Guy Butler	United Kingdom	50.7 s
3	Ted Meredith	United States	50.8 s
4th	Erik Wilén	Finland	51.1 s
5	Hector Phillips	Canada	51.5 s

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Henry Dafel	South African Union	51.0 s
2	George Schiller	United States	51.3 s
3	Eric Sundblad	Sweden	51.4 s
4th	Robert Lindsay	United Kingdom	51.7 s
5	Omer Corteyn	Belgium	52.1 s

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Frank Shea	United States	51.0 s
2	Bevil Rudd	South African Union	51.2 s
3	Géo André	France	51.3 s
4th	Miguel García Onsalo	Spain	52.6 s
5	Hedges Worthington-Eyre	United Kingdom	52.7 s

Semifinals

The French Géo André only made it to the semi-finals

The winner: Bevil Rudd from South Africa

Date: August 20, 1920 from 2 p.m. local time

The transmission of the times is not complete.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Nils Engdahl	Sweden	49.6 s
2	Bevil Rudd	South African Union	49.7 s
3	John Ainsworth-Davis	United Kingdom	49.9 s
4th	Robert Emery	United States	k. A.
5	George Schiller	United States	k. A.
6th	Gaston Féry	France	k. A.

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Frank Shea	United States	50.0 s
2	Guy Butler	United Kingdom	50.2 s
3	Henry Dafel	South African Union	50.4 s
4th	Ted Meredith	United States	50.4 s
5	Géo André	France	50.5 s

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Bevil Rudd	South African Union	49.6 s
2	Guy Butler	United Kingdom	49.9 s
3	Nils Engdahl	Sweden	50.0 s
4th	Frank Shea	United States	50.2 s
5	John Ainsworth-Davis	United Kingdom	50.4 s
6th	Henry Dafel	South African Union	50.4 s

Date: August 20, 1920, 4:15 p.m. local time

The times run in the final were pretty weak given Ted Meredith's world record of 47.4 s. However, the condition of the track and the fact that the preliminary rounds took place on the same day as the final must be taken into account.
There was nothing left of the superiority of the Americans in the last games - there was only one runner in the final who did not come from the USA. The South African Bevil Rudd was victorious in a cleverly arranged race.

Rudd's victory was the first South African gold medal in this discipline.
Nils Engdahl won the first Swedish medal over 400 meters .

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 134f

Web links

• SportsReference 400m , accessed August 30, 2017
• Official report , French (PDF), accessed on August 30, 2017

Video

• South Africa's Bevil Rudd Wins 400m Gold - Antwerp 1920 Olympics , published June 20, 2013 on youtube.com, accessed August 30, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 548 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Official report, page 90 (French) ( Memento from October 7, 2018 in the Internet Archive )