1924 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m hurdles (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter hurdles
gender	Men
Attendees	23 athletes from 13 countries
Competition location	Stade de Colombes
Competition phase	July 6, 1924 (preliminary round / semi-finals) July 7, 1924 (final)
Medalist Morgan Taylor ( USA )   Erkka Wilén ( FIN )   Ivan Riley ( USA )

The men's 400-meter hurdles at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris was held on July 6th and 7th, 1924 in the Stade de Colombes . 23 athletes took part.

The American Morgan Taylor was Olympic champion ahead of the Finn Erkka Wilén . Bronze went to Ivan Riley from the USA.

A special feature of this race was that the stadium circuit in Colombes was 500 meters long.

Existing records

• World record : 54.0 s - Frank Loomis ( USA ), Antwerp , August 16, 1920
• Olympic record : 54.0 s - Frank Loomis ( USA ), Olympic final in Antwerp , August 16, 1920

Ivan Riley had achieved a time of 52.1 s on May 31, 1924 in Ann Arbor . However, this time was not recognized as a world record, because he had illegally knocked over a hurdle.

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in a total of six heats on July 6th. The two best runners each reached the semifinals on the same day. In the two preliminary rounds, the three best runners each qualified for the final, which took place the next day.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

Date: July 6, 1924

Not all times have been passed down.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Charles Brookins	United States	54.8 s
2	Humberto Lara	Chile	56.5 s
3	Philip MacDonald	Canada	56.8 s

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Chan Coulter	United States	55.0 s
2	Erkka Wilén	Finland	55.3 s
3	Louis Lundgren	Denmark	56.0 s
DNF	Pierre Arnaudin	France

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Géo André	France	56.0 s
2	Henri Thorsen	Denmark	57.2 s
3	Ioannis Talianos	Greece	58.0 s

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Roger Much	France	57.2 s
2	Martti Jukola	Finland	57.7 s
3	Wilfrid Tatham	Great Britain	k. A.

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Morgan Taylor	United States	55.8 s
2	Frederick Blackett	Great Britain	56.9 s
3	Enrique Thompson	Argentina	57.0 s
4th	Richard Honner	Australia	58.5 s
5	André Foussard	France	1: 00.0 min

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ivan Riley	United States	55.4 s
2	Luigi Facelli	Italy	56.4 s
3	Jules Migeot	Belgium	56.7 s
4th	Warren Montabone	Canada	k. A.
5	Oscar van Rappard	Netherlands	k. A.

Semifinals

Date: July 6, 1924

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Charles Brookins	United States	54.6 s
2	Morgan Taylor	United States	54.9 s
3	Erkka Wilén	Finland	55.4 s
4th	Luigi Facelli	Italy	55.6 s
5	Roger Much	France	56.7 s
6th	Henri Thorsen	Denmark	57.3 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ivan Riley	United States	56.6 s
2	Géo André	France	56.7 s
3	Frederick Blackett	Great Britain	58.4 s
4th	Chan Coulter	United States	58.6 s
5	Martti Jukola	Finland	58.6 s
6th	Humberto Lara	Chile	59.0 s

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Morgan Taylor	United States	52.6 s	WR not recognized
2	Erkka Wilén	Finland	53.8 s	OR
3	Ivan Riley	United States	54.2 s
4th	Géo André	France	56.2 s
DSQ	Charles Brookins	United States
DSQ	Frederick Blackett	Great Britain

Date: July 7, 1924

The logic of the time ratings of this race - according to the rules applicable at the time - is difficult to understand. Morgan F. Taylor's time was not recognized as a world record because he had broken a hurdle, but his Olympic victory did not affect it. The same as today, however, was done with Charles Brookins, who had originally been in second place, but was disqualified because he had run outside of his track. Erik Wilén won the silver medal and was slower than the winner with a time of 1.2 seconds. Nevertheless, he was the sole holder of the Olympic record . Frederick Blackett had broken three hurdles and finished sixth. In contrast to George Guthrie , who passed the same 110 meter hurdles , Blackett was officially disqualified.

Morgan Taylor's gold medal marked the fifth US victory in the fifth Olympic final in the discipline.

Erik Wilén won the first Finnish medal in the 400 meter hurdles .

The French Géo André, who finished fourth, took part in his fourth Olympic Games here. He had taken the Olympic oath at the opening ceremony .

Picture gallery

• 

  Olympic Champion Morgan Taylor (USA)

• 

  Géo André (FRA) finished fourth in his fourth Olympic Games

• 

  The Italian Luigi Facelli failed in the first semi-final

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, pp. 165f

Video

• Morgan Taylor's first Olympic Gold - 400m Hurdles - Paris 1924 Olympic Games , published June 14, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed September 6, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference 400 m hurdles

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 166
2. ↑ Official report, pages 127 - 128 (French) ( 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. 
3. ↑ SportsReference (English)