1968 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m hurdles (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter hurdles
gender	Men
Attendees	30 athletes from 24 countries
Competition location	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Competition phase	October 13, 1968 (preliminary) October 14, 1968 (semi-finals) October 15, 1968 (final)
Medalist David Hemery ( GBR )   Gerhard Hennige ( FRG )   John Sherwood ( GBR )

The men's 400-meter hurdles at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City was held from October 13 to 15, 1968 in the Estadio Olímpico Universitario . 30 athletes took part.

Olympic champion was the Briton David Hemery . He won in a new world record time ahead of Gerhard Hennige from the Federal Republic of Germany and John Sherwood , like Hemery, a member of the British team.

Runners from the GDR - officially East Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.
In addition to the silver medalist Hennige, Rainer Schubert also competed for the Federal Republic of Germany - officially Germany . He also qualified for the final and finished seventh.

Existing records

World record	48.8 s	Geoff Vanderstock ( USA )	Echo Summit , USA	September 11, 1968
Olympic record	49.3 s	Glenn Davis ( USA )	Final of Rome , Italy	2nd September 1960

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in a total of four heats on October 13th. The four best runners made it to the semi-finals, which took place on October 14th. Here the first four runners qualified for the final on October 15th.

Time schedule

October 13, 3 p.m .: Preliminary
October 14, 3 p.m .: Semi-finals
October 15, 5:35 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are Mexico City local time ( UTC −6)

The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Preliminary round

Date: October 13, 1968, from 3 p.m.

Forward 1

Mohamed Asswai Khalifa was the first athlete from Libya to take part in the Olympic Games.

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Gerhard Hennige	BR Germany	49.5 s	49.57 s
2	Geoff Vanderstock	United States	50.6 s	50.62 s
3	Vyacheslav Skomorokhov	Soviet Union	50.7 s	50.72 s
4th	Víctor Maldonado	Venezuela	51.4 s	51.46 s
5	Kiyoo Yui	Japan	51.5 s	51.56 s
6th	Bob McLaren	Canada	51.8 s	51.84 s
7th	Miguel Olivera	Cuba	51.9 s	51.98 s
8th	Mohamed Asswai Khalifa	Libya	54.3 s	54.34 s

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Juan Carlos Dyrzka	Argentina	49.8 s	49.82 s
2	Roger Johnson	New Zealand	51.3 s	51.39 s
3	John Cooper	Great Britain	51.4 s	51.43 s
4th	Mamadou Sarr	Senegal	51.5 s	51.58 s
5	Wes Brooker	Canada	51.5 s	51.68 s
6th	William Quaye	Ghana	51.6 s	51.54 s

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Ron Whitney	United States	49.0 s	49.06 s	OR
2	Rainer Schubert	BR Germany	49.1 s	49.15 s
3	Gary Knoke	Australia	49.8 s	49.88 s
4th	John Sherwood	Great Britain	50.2 s	50.31 s
5	Wilhelm Weistand	Poland	50.7 s	50.71 s
6th	Wilfried Geeroms	Belgium	51.2 s	51.27 s
7th	Juan Santiago Gordón	Chile	52.4 s	52.43 s
8th	Zambrose Abdul Rahman	Malaysia	53.2 s	53.23 s

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Roberto Frinolli	Italy	49.9 s	49.95 s
2	David Hemery	Great Britain	50.3 s	50.33 s
3	Robert Poirier	France	50.5 s	50.51 s
4th	Jaakko Tuominen	Finland	50.6 s	50.63 s
5	Kimaru Songok	Kenya	50.6 s	50.66 s
6th	Alejandro Sánchez	Mexico	51.6 s	51.62 s
7th	Juan Manuel García Dumois	Cuba	51.8 s	51.87 s
8th	Georgios Birmbilis	Greece	52.6 s	52.62 s

Semifinals

Date: October 14, 1968, from 3 p.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Roberto Frinolli	Italy	49.2 s	49.14 s
2	Geoff Vanderstock	United States	49.2 s	49.22 s
3	John Sherwood	Great Britain	49.3 s	49.37 s
4th	Rainer Schubert	BR Germany	49.3 s	49.38 s
5	Juan Carlos Dyrzka	Argentina	49.8 s	49.86 s
6th	Jaakko Tuominen	Finland	50.8 s	50.82 s
7th	John Cooper	Great Britain	50.8 s	50.82 s
8th	Víctor Maldonado	Venezuela	52.2 s	52.29 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Gerhard Hennige	BR Germany	49.1 s	49.16 s
2	Ron Whitney	United States	49.2 s	49.29 s
3	David Hemery	Great Britain	49.3 s	49.37 s
4th	Vyacheslav Skomorokhov	Soviet Union	49.6 s	49.61 s
5	Gary Knoke	Australia	49.6 s	49.61 s
6th	Robert Poirier	France	51.2 s	51.23 s
7th	Roger Johnson	New Zealand	51.8 s	51.87 s
8th	Mamadou Sarr	Senegal	52.1 s	52.20 s

final

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	David Hemery	Great Britain	48.1 s	48.12 s	WR
2	Gerhard Hennige	BR Germany	49.0 s	49.02 s
3	John Sherwood	Great Britain	49.0 s	49.03 s
4th	Geoff Vanderstock	United States	49.0 s	49.07 s
5	Vyacheslav Skomorokhov	Soviet Union	49.1 s	49.12 s
6th	Ron Whitney	United States	49.2 s	49.27 s
7th	Rainer Schubert	BR Germany	49.2 s	49.30 s
8th	Roberto Frinolli	Italy	50.1 s	50.13 s

Date: October 15, 1968, 5:35 p.m.

The US runners Geoff Vanderstock and Ronald Whitney had set new standards with their times in the US Olympic qualifications and were considered clear favorites. But the prelims and semi-finals here in Mexico City already showed that other athletes could be expected. Vanderstock was defeated in the preliminary run by the German runner Gerhard Hennige and in the semifinals by the Italian Roberto Frinolli, who set the European record with 49.1 seconds. Whitney improved the Olympic record in the run-up to 49.0 s, but was defeated in the second semi-final by Hennige, who set Frinolli's European record from the first preliminary decision. The second German runner, Rainer Schubert, ran the European record time of 49.1 s in the run-up to second behind Whitney. The two British John Sherwood and David Hemery showed with 49.3 seconds in the semifinals that they too were among the medal candidates.

In the final, Frinolli took the lead early, on the fifth hurdle he was ahead with Hemery and the Soviet runner Vyacheslav Skomorochow. David Hemery now picked up the pace and developed a lead of almost a second over all other finalists, especially between the ninth and tenth hurdles. He became Olympic champion and pulverized Vanderstock's world record by seven tenths of a second with 48.1 seconds. At the beginning of the home straight nothing was decided behind the clear leading Briton, Gerhard Hennige, here still in last position, fought his way up to second place and won the silver medal. With 49.0 s he ran the German record again. Hemery's teammate John Sherwood won the bronze medal at the same time as Hennige. For world record holder Vanderstock, only fourth place remained at the same time as Hennige and Sherwood. The next runners reached the finish line at an interval of only one tenth of a second each: Skomorochow in fifth, Whitney in sixth and Schubert in seventh with 49.3 seconds. Only Frinolli fell significantly behind with 50.1 seconds.

Gerhard Hennige won the first medal for the Federal Republic of Germany in this discipline.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 351–353

Video

• 1968 Olympics 400m Hurdles Men Final , published August 27, 2016 on youtube.com, accessed November 6, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference 400m hurdles , accessed November 6, 2017
• Official report - summary pp. 74–77, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 6, 2017
• Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games p. 524, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 6, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 554 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 6, 2017
2. ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 10, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 6, 2017 
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 524, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 6, 2017 
4. ↑ SportsReference , accessed November 6, 2017