1924 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	60 athletes from 27 countries
Competition location	Stade de Colombes
Competition phase	July 10, 1924 (preliminary round / quarter-finals) July 11, 1924 (semi-finals / final)
Medalist Eric Liddell ( GBR )   Horatio Fitch ( USA )   Guy Butler ( GBR )

The men's 400-meter race at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris was held on July 10 and 11, 1924 in the Stade de Colombes . Sixty athletes took part.

The British Eric Liddell became Olympic champion in a new world record time . The US-American Horatio Fitch won silver, bronze went to the Briton Guy Butler .

Austrian runners did not take part. The Swiss Josef Imbach made it to the final after setting an Olympic record in the quarter-finals, but fell here shortly before the finish. His teammate Christian Simmen dropped out in the preliminary run. German athletes were still excluded from participating in the Olympic Games.

The competition, especially the story of the winner Liddell, is the subject of the 1981 film The Hour of the Winner (OT: Chariots of Fire ), directed by Hugh Hudson with Ian Charleson in the role of Liddell and Edward Wiley as Fitch. The film was u. a. 1982 Best Picture with the Oscar awarded.

A special feature of this race was that the stadium lap in Colombes was 500 meters long. The runners started 100 meters after the finish line.

Existing records

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

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in a total of 17 heats on July 10th. The two best runners in each case qualified for the quarter-finals on the same day. The two best runners from the six quarter-finals also progressed one lap. The two semi-finals and the final were held on July 11th. In the semifinals, the first three placed qualified for the finals.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

Date: July 10, 1924

Not all times have been passed down.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Horace Aylwin	Canada	54.0 s
2	Erik Wilén	Finland	54.8 s

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ray Robertson	United States	50.2 s
2	Kai Jensen	Denmark	50.9 s
3	Jules Migeot	Belgium	51.0 s
4th	Reinhold Keskull	Estonia	k. A.
5	Christophe Mirgain	Luxembourg	k. A.

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Gustaf Wejnarth	Sweden	50.2 s
2	Lajos Kurunczy	Hungary	52.6 s
3	Richard Honner	Australia	k. A.
4th	Kiril Petrunov	Bulgaria	k. A.

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Eric Wilson	United States	49.6 s
2	Roy Norman	Australia	50.6 s
3	William Fuller	Canada	51.5 s
4th	Edouard Armand	Haiti	k. A.

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Josef Imbach	Switzerland	51.8 s

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	David Johnson	Canada	51.8 s
2	Charles Hoff	Norway	53.0 s

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	John Coard Taylor	United States	50.8 s
2	Tokushige Noto	Japan	51.7 s
3	Wim Bolten	Netherlands	53.0 s

Forward 8

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Lawrence Betts	South African Union	49.8 s
2	Sean Lavan	Irish Free State	51.2 s
3	Wim cat	Netherlands	51.8 s
4th	Guillermo Amparan	Mexico	52.0 s

Forward 9

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Artur Svensson	Sweden	50.0 s
2	Raymond Fritz	France	51.0 s
3	Charles Lane	Australia	51.4 s
4th	Menso Menso	Netherlands	k. A.
5	Juan Escutia	Mexico	k. A.

Forward 10

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Clarence Oldfield	South African Union	49.6 s
2	Edward Toms	Great Britain	49.9 s
3	Carlos Garces	Mexico	51.0 s
4th	Emilio Casanovas	Argentina	k. A.

Forward 11

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Nils Engdahl	Sweden	49.2 s
2	George Renwick	Great Britain	50.3 s
3	Francisco Dova	Argentina	51.0 s
4th	José Martínez	Mexico	k. A.

Forward 12

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Terence Pitt	British India	49.8 s
2	Alan Christie	Canada	50.5 s
3	Félix Escobar	Argentina	51.4 s
4th	Raymond Jamois	France	k. A.
5	Karel Přibyl	Czechoslovakia	52.8 s

Forward 13

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Luigi Facelli	Italy	51.0 s
2	Federico Brewster	Argentina	51.8 s
3	Stefan Ołdak	Poland	55.0 s

Forward 14

Erik Byléhn (SWE) fails in the preliminary run

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Eric Liddell	Great Britain	50.2 s
2	Alfredo Gargiullo	Italy	50.4 s
3	Erik Byléhn	Sweden	50.6 s
4th	Stanisław Świętochowski	Poland	55.4 s

Forward 15

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Horatio Fitch	United States	52.0 s
2	Erik Åström	Finland	52.1 s

Forward 16

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Guy Butler	Great Britain	50.2 s
2	Gaston Féry	France	51.1 s
3	Narciso Costa	Brazil	k. A.
4th	Ennio Maffiolini	Italy	k. A.
5	Christian Simmen	Switzerland	k. A.

Forward 17

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Barthélémy Favodon	France	51.2 s
2	Adriaan Paulen	Netherlands	52.0 s
3	Paul Hammer	Luxembourg	53.1 s

Quarter finals

Olympic record in the quarter-finals, but the Swiss Josef Imbach reached the final, but could not finish it.

Out in the quarterfinals for Luigi Facelli (ITA)

Date: July 10, 1924 The runners qualified for the quarter-finals Horace Aylwin (USA), Lajos Kurunczy (HUN), George Renwick (GBR) and Erik Åström (FIN) no longer competed for their runs.

Not all times have been passed down.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Horatio Fitch	United States	49.0 s
2	Artur Svensson	Sweden	50.0 s
3	Alan Christie	Canada	50.8 s
4th	Edward Toms	Great Britain	k. A.

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Lawrence Betts	South African Union	49.0 s
2	Charles Hoff	Norway	49.2 s
3	Gustaf Wejnarth	Sweden	50.2 s
4th	Gaston Féry	France	50.7 s

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Guy Butler	Great Britain	49.8 s
2	John Coard Taylor	United States	50.4 s
3	Barthélémy Favodon	France	50.9 s
4th	Terence Pitt	British India	51.6 s
5	Kai Jensen	Denmark	k. A.
6th	Federico Brewster	Argentina	k. A.

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Adriaan Paulen	Netherlands	49.0 s
2	Eric Liddell	Great Britain	49.3 s
3	Ray Robertson	United States	49.5 s
4th	Luigi Facelli	Italy	50.5 s
5	Raymond Fritz	France	50.5 s

Run 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Clarence Oldfield	South African Union	49.0 s
2	David Johnson	Canada	49.3 s
3	Erik Wilén	Finland	49.6 s
4th	Roy Norman	Australia	50.2 s
5	Alfredo Gargiullo	Italy	k. A.

Run 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Josef Imbach	Switzerland	48.0 s	OR
2	Nils Engdahl	Sweden	48.4 s
3	Eric Wilson	United States	48.8 s
4th	Sean Lavan	Irish Free State	49.8 s
5	Tokushige Noto	Japan	50.7 s

Semifinals

The Norwegian Charles Hoff fails in the semi-finals

Date: July 11, 1924

Not all times have been passed down.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Horatio Fitch	United States	47.8 s	OR
2	Guy Butler	Great Britain	47.9 s
3	David Johnson	Canada	48.0 s
4th	Adriaan Paulen	Netherlands	48.2 s
5	Lawrence Betts	South African Union	48.4 s
6th	Nils Engdahl	Sweden	48.6 s

Olympic champion Eric Liddell (GBR)

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Eric Liddell	Great Britain	48.2 s
2	Josef Imbach	Switzerland	48.3 s
3	John Coard Taylor	United States	48.7 s
4th	Charles Hoff	Norway	k. A.
5	Clarence Oldfield	South African Union	k. A.
6th	Artur Svensson	Sweden	k. A.

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Eric Liddell	Great Britain	47.6 s	WR
2	Horatio Fitch	United States	48.4 s
3	Guy Butler	Great Britain	48.6 s
4th	David Johnson	Canada	48.8 s
5	John Coard Taylor	United States	1: 07.0 min
6th	Josef Imbach	Switzerland	DNF

Date: July 11, 1924

Eric Liddell's forte was actually the 100-meter run . But since the final of this sprint took place on a Sunday and Liddell, as the Scottish pastor, did not want to start on Sundays, he signed up for the 400 meters as well as the 200 meters . The Olympic record fell twice in the heats - the first by Swiss Josef Imbach in the sixth quarter-finals, the second by US runner Horatio Fitch in the first semifinals. Although the final took place two hours after the semi-finals, Liddell increased the world record to 47.6 s. He was in the lead right from the start and ran the first 200 meters in 22.2 seconds. Well behind, Horatio Fitch won the silver medal after a tough battle with Guy Butler.

Two runners had serious problems finishing the race. John Coard Taylor, who had already competed with a bandage, injured himself 30 m before the end and dragged himself to the finish. Josef Imbach stepped on the inside edge of the train, fell and was treated in the hospital. The jury officially put him in sixth place, even though he hadn't finished the race.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, pp. 157-159

Web links

• SportsReference 400m , accessed September 5, 2017
• Official report , pp. 108–109., French. (PDF), accessed on September 5, 2017

Video

• The Flying Scotsman takes gold and sets a new record - Eric Liddell - Paris 1924 Olympic Games , published July 10, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed September 5, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Berlin 2009, p. 548.
2. ↑ Official report ( Memento of the original from April 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Pp. 108-109. (French) 
3. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)