1928 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	50 athletes from 20 countries
Competition location	Olympic Stadium Amsterdam
Competition phase	August 2, 1928 (preliminary / quarter-finals) August 3, 1928 (semi-finals / final)
Medalist Ray Barbuti ( USA )   James Ball ( CAN )   Joachim Büchner ( DEU )

Ray Barbuti (USA), Olympic champion over 400 meters

Bronze medal for Joachim Büchner (DEU)

The men's 400-meter run at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam was held on August 2nd and 3rd, 1928 in the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium. Fifty athletes took part.

The American Ray Barbuti was Olympic champion ahead of the Canadian James Ball . Bronze went to the German Joachim Büchner .

Existing records

• World record : 47.0 s - Emerson Spencer ( USA ), Palo Alto , May 12, 1928
• Olympic record : 47.6s - Eric Liddell ( Great Britain ), Paris final , July 11, 1924

Conducting the competition

On August 2nd, the runners started 15 heats. The two best runners in each case qualified for the quarter-finals on the same day. The two best athletes from the six quarter-finals also made it to the next round, the semi-finals. The two preliminary rounds and the final were held on August 3rd. In the semifinals, the first three qualified for the final.

The division of the preliminary runs was not well balanced. Most of the races were carried out with four or five participants, but there were also three runs in which only two athletes competed against each other, who then both had to easily cross the finish line in order to qualify for the next round.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

Date: August 2, 1928

Not all times have been passed down.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Hermon Phillips	United States	49.4 s
2	Georges Dupont	France	k. A.
3	Zygmunt Weiss	Poland	50.8 s
4th	Marinus van den Berge	Netherlands	k. A.
5	Víctor Villaseñor	Mexico

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Euil Snider	United States	50.4 s
2	François Prinsen	Belgium	| k. A.

Forward 3

The Pole Stefan Kostrzewski retired in the preliminary run.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Phil Edwards	Canada	49.8 s
2	Georges Krotoff	France	50.5 s
3	Jaroslav Vykoupil	Czechoslovakia	k. A.
4th	Stefan Kostrzewski	Poland	52.2 s

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	John Rinkel	Great Britain	50.2 s
2	Johann Bartl	Czechoslovakia	k. A.
3	Émile Langenraedt	Belgium	k. A.
4th	Feliks Zuber	Poland	52.6 s

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Joachim Büchner	German Empire	50.2 s
2	Andries Hoogerwerf	Netherlands	k. A.

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ray Barbuti	United States	49.8 s
2	Sean Lavan	Irish Free State	k. A.
3	Louis Lundgren	Denmark	k. A.
4th	Jenő Szalay	Hungary
5	Rodolfo Hannig	Chile

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Harry Werner Storz	German Empire	50.6 s
2	Harry Broos	Netherlands	k. A.
3	Joaquín Miquel	Spain	k. A.

Forward 8

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	James Ball	Canada	55.8 s
2	Roger Leigh-Wood	Great Britain	k. A.

Forward 9

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Jesús Moraila	Mexico	1: 00.0 min
2	James Hall	British India	k. A.

Forward 10

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	László Barsi	Hungary	55.6 s
2	José Lucílo Iturbe	Mexico	k. A.

Forward 11

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Joe Tierney	United States	49.8 s
2	Alex Wilson	Canada	49.9 s
3	Klemens Biniakowski	Poland	50.8 s

Forward 12

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	René Féger	France	51.4 s
2	Billy Green	Great Britain	k. A.
3	José Vicente Salinas	Chile	k. A.

Forward 13

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Hermann Geissler	Austria	50.2 s
2	Adriaan Paulen	Netherlands	k. A.
3	László Magdics	Hungary	k. A.
4th	Vasilios Stavrinos	Greece
5	Fritz Eyschen	Luxembourg

Forward 14

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Otto Neumann	German Empire	50.6 s
2	Fred Macbeth	Canada	k. A.
3	Charles Stuart	Australia	k. A.
4th	Mór Gero	Hungary

Forward 15

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Reinhold Schmidt	German Empire	50.0 s
2	Joseph Jackson	France	50.6 s
3	John Hanlon	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Alfonso García	Mexico

Quarter finals

Date: August 2, 1928

Not all times have been passed down.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Hermon Phillips	United States	49.6 s
2	Georges Krotoff	France	k. A.
3	Billy Green	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Reinhold Schmidt	German Empire
5	James Hall	British India

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ray Barbuti	United States	48.8 s
2	Alex Wilson	Canada	k. A.
3	Otto Neumann	German Empire	k. A.
4th	Georges Dupont	France
5	Jesús Moraila	Mexico

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	James Ball	Canada	49.2 s
2	René Féger	France	k. A.
3	Euil Snider	United States	k. A.
4th	Andries Hoogerwerf	Netherlands
5	Hermann Geissler	Austria

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Harry Werner Storz	German Empire	49.4 s
2	John Rinkel	Great Britain	k. A.
3	Joseph Jackson	France	k. A.
4th	François Prinsen	Belgium
5	José Lucílo Iturbe	Mexico

Run 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Phil Edwards	Canada	49.2 s
2	Harry Broos	Netherlands	k. A.
3	Johann Bartl	Czechoslovakia	k. A.
4th	Joe Tierney	United States
5	Sean Lavan	Irish Free State

Run 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Joachim Büchner	German Empire	48.6 s
2	László Barsi	Hungary	k. A.
3	Roger Leigh-Wood	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Adriaan Paulen	Netherlands
5	Fred Macbeth	Canada

Semifinals

The Canadian Phil Edwards failed in the semifinals.

Date: August 3, 1928

Not all times have been passed down.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	James Ball	Canada	48.6 s
2	Ray Barbuti	United States	48.8 s
3	Harry Werner Storz	German Empire	49.0 s
4th	László Barsi	Hungary	49.2 s
5	Harry Broos	Netherlands	49.9 s
6th	Georges Krotoff	France	k. A.

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Joachim Büchner	German Empire	48.6 s
2	Hermon Phillips	United States	49.1 s
3	John Rinkel	Great Britain	49.1 s
4th	Alex Wilson	Canada	49.2 s
5	René Féger	France	49.6 s
6th	Phil Edwards	Canada	50.2 s

final

Finish: Raymond Barbuti (r.) In front of James Ball (l.) And Joachim Büchner (with glasses)

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ray Barbuti	United States	47.8 s
2	James Ball	Canada	47.9 s
3	Joachim Büchner	German Empire	48.1 s
4th	John Rinkel	Great Britain	48.4 s
5	Harry Werner Storz	German Empire	48.8 s
6th	Hermon Phillips	United States	49.0 s

Date: August 2, 1928

Due to a mistake, the world record holder Emerson Spencer was not at the start over 400 meters . He had held the final of the US Olympic eliminations for a run-up and had only run for the place. So he didn't make it into the top three and only qualified for the 4 x 400 meter relay . His compatriot Ray Barbuti made sure that the gold medal came back to the USA - it should remain the only one for the Americans in the individual runs at these games. With a tenth of a second ahead of the Canadian James Ball and two more tenths ahead of the German Joachim Büchner, Barbuti became Olympic champion.

James Ball ran for the first Canadian medal in the discipline.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, pp. 192f

Web links

• SportsReference 400m , accessed September 12, 2017
• Official report pp. 408-412, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 12, 2017

Video

• USA's Ray Barbuti Battles To 400m Gold - Amsterdam 1928 Olympics , published March 28, 2013 on youtube.com, accessed September 12, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 1923
2. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)