1976 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m (women)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter run
gender	Women
Attendees	40 athletes from 19 countries
Competition location	Montreal Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 25, 1976 (preliminary) July 26, 1976 (quarter-finals) July 28, 1976 (semi-finals) July 29, 1976 (final)
Medalists Irena Szewińska ( POL )   Christina Brehmer ( GDR )   Ellen Streidt ( GDR )

The women's 400-meter run at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal was held on July 25, 26 and 29, 1976 in the Montreal Olympic Stadium. 40 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was Irena Szewińska from Poland , who won in a new world record time ahead of the two GDR runners Christina Brehmer and Ellen Streidt .

In addition to the two medal winners, Marita Koch also took part for the GDR. She was able to qualify for the semifinals, but did not appear there. Dagmar Fuhrmann , Silvia Hollmann and Rita Wilden
started for the Federal Republic of Germany . All three reached the quarter-finals, in which Fuhrmann and Hollmann were eliminated. Wilden failed one lap later in the semifinals. Austria was represented by Christiane Wildschek , who was eliminated in the semifinals. Helen Ritter from Liechtenstein was eliminated in the preliminary round. Runners from Switzerland did not take part.

Existing records

World record	49.75 s	Irena Szewińska ( Poland )	Bydgoszcz , Poland	June 22, 1976
Olympic record	51.08 s	Monika Zehre ( GDR )	Final of Munich , Federal Republic of Germany	7th September 1972

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in six heats on July 25th. The five best runners and the following two fastest made it to the quarter-finals on July 26th. From this, the four best runners reached the semi-finals on July 28th, from which the four best runners qualified for the final, which took place on July 29th.

Time schedule

July 25, 3 p.m .: Preliminary runs
July 26, 4:20 p.m .: Quarter-finals
July 28, 6:55 p.m .: Semi-finals
July 29, 4:20 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are local Montreal time ( UTC − 5 )

The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue, the others in light green.

Preliminary round

Date: July 25, 1976, from 3 p.m.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Christina Brehmer	GDR	52.45 s
2	Verona Elder	Great Britain	52.60 s
3	Rita Wilden	BR Germany	53.08 s
4th	Lorna Forde	Barbados	53.93 s
5	Rachelle Campbell	Canada	54.54 s
DNS	Marième Boye	Senegal

Forward 2

Marita Koch, GDR no longer competed in her semi-finals

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Debra Sapenter	United States	52.33 s
2	Donna Hartley	Great Britain	52.75 s
3	Marita Koch	GDR	52.78 s
4th	Regine Berg	Belgium	53.66 s
5	Silvia Hollmann	BR Germany	53.73 s
6th	Helen Blake	Jamaica	53.93 s
7th	Ileana Hocking	Puerto Rico	57.85 s

Forward 3

The Jamaican Marilyn Neufville did not make her quarterfinals

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ellen Streidt	GDR	52.56 s
2	Christiane Wildschek	Austria	52.65 s
3	Judy Canty	Australia	52.88 s
4th	Marilyn Neufville	Jamaica	52.93 s
5	Raisin Wallez	Belgium	52.94 s
6th	Jelica Pavličić	Yugoslavia	54.11 s
DNS	Chee Swee Lee	Singapore

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Sheila Ingram	United States	51.83 s
2	Natalia Sokolova	Soviet Union	52.45 s
3	Irena Szewińska	Poland	52.75 s
4th	Joyce Yakubowich	Canada	53.35 s
5	Gladys Taylor	Great Britain	53.46 s
6th	Marika Lindholm	Finland	53.64 s
7th	Celestine N'Drin	Ivory Coast	54.13 s

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Rosalyn Bryant	United States	52.01 s
2	Riitta Salin	Finland	52.57 s
3	Lyudmila Aksyonova	Soviet Union	52.90 s
4th	Bethanie Nail	Australia	52.98 s
5	Ruth Williams-Simpson	Jamaica	54.07 s
6th	Helen Knight	Liechtenstein	58.52 s
DNS	Debbie Jones	Bermuda

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Nadezhda Ilyina	Soviet Union	51.97 s
2	Verna Burnard	Australia	52.10 s
3	Dagmar Fuhrmann	BR Germany	52.58 s
4th	Pirjo Haggman	Finland	52.73 s
5	Margaret Stride	Canada	53.21 s
7th	Rita Bottiglieri	Italy	53.37 s
8th	Rose-Marie Gauthier	Haiti	1: 13.27 min

Quarter finals

Date: July 26, 1976, from 4:20 p.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Sheila Ingram	United States	51.31 s
2	Ellen Streidt	GDR	51.33 s
3	Pirjo Haggman	Finland	51.65 s
4th	Lyudmila Aksyonova	Soviet Union	51.73 s
5	Dagmar Fuhrmann	BR Germany	52.02 s
6th	Judy Canty	Australia	52.65 s
7th	Lorna Forde	Barbados	53.62 s
8th	Rachelle Campbell	Canada	54.16 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Natalia Sokolova	Soviet Union	51.63 s
2	Christina Brehmer	GDR	51.67 s
3	Verna Burnard	Australia	51.79 s
4th	Rita Wilden	BR Germany	52.41 s
5	Gladys Taylor	Great Britain	53.71 s
6th	Marika Lindholm	Finland	54.07 s
7th	Margaret Stride	Canada	55.02 s
DNS	Marilyn Neufville	Jamaica

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Debra Sapenter	United States	51.23 s
2	Nadezhda Ilyina	Soviet Union	51.32 s
3	Bethanie Nail	Australia	51.71 s
4th	Christiane Wildschek	Austria	52.25 s
5	Verona Elder	Great Britain	52.70 s
6th	Raisin Wallez	Belgium	53.04 s
7th	Silvia Hollmann	BR Germany	53.77 s
8th	Ruth Williams-Simpson	Jamaica	53.88 s

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Riitta Salin	Finland	51.62 s
2	Rosalyn Bryant	United States	51.74 s
3	Marita Koch	GDR	51.87 s
4th	Irena Szewińska	Poland	52.00 s
5	Donna Hartley	Great Britain	52.29 s
6th	Rita Bottiglieri	Italy	52.51 s
7th	Regine Berg	Belgium	53.14 s
8th	Joyce Yakubowich	Canada	53.14 s

Semifinals

Date: July 28, 1976, from 6.55 p.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Irena Szewińska	Poland	50.48 s	OR
2	Ellen Streidt	GDR	50.51 s
3	Sheila Ingram	United States	50.90 s
4th	Riitta Salin	Finland	51.26 s
5	Bethanie Nail	Australia	51.44 s
6th	Lyudmila Aksyonova	Soviet Union	51.55 s
7th	Christiane Wildschek	Austria	52.20 s
DNS	Marita Koch	GDR

Run 2

Christina Brehmer from the GDR, winner of the silver medal, on an autograph card from 1980.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Rosalyn Bryant	United States	50.62 s
2	Christina Brehmer	GDR	50.86 s
3	Pirjo Haggman	Finland	51.03 s
4th	Debra Sapenter	United States	51.34 s
5	Nadezhda Ilyina	Soviet Union	51.42 s
6th	Verna Burnard	Australia	51.71 s
7th	Rita Wilden	BR Germany	51.82 s
8th	Natalia Sokolova	Soviet Union	51.95 s

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Irena Szewińska	Poland	49.28 s	WR
2	Christina Brehmer	GDR	50.51 s
3	Ellen Streidt	GDR	50.55 s
4th	Pirjo Haggman	Finland	50.56 s
5	Rosalyn Bryant	United States	50.65 s
6th	Sheila Ingram	United States	50.90 s
7th	Riitta Salin	Finland	50.98 s
8th	Debra Sapenter	United States	51.66 m

Date: July 29, 1976, 4:20 p.m.

In May of the Olympic year Christina Brehmer had set a new world record with 49.77 seconds , which Irena Szewińska from Poland had improved by two hundredths of a second in June. A duel was expected between these two runners.

The final race was pretty even up to the start of the home straight, Szewińska had a minimal lead over Brehmer. The American Rosalyn Bryant also followed not far back. On the home stretch, however, the Polish pulled away from all competitors. With a big lead and a new world record, she became Olympic champion. Behind her, the battle for the medals became very close again. The GDR runner Ellen Streidt on the inner lane and the Finn Pirjo Häggman moved up against the two declining Brehmer and Bryant. Christina Brehmer was just able to save the silver medal with a lead of four hundredths of a second, while Rosalyn Bryant fell back to fifth. Ellen Streidt won bronze with a single hundredth of a second ahead of Pirjo Häggman.

Irena Szewińska was the first Polish female Olympic and medalist in this discipline.

literature

• Ernst Huberty / Willy B. Wange, The Olympic Games Montreal Innsbruck 1976, Lingen-Verlag, Cologne 1976, p. 240f

Web links

• SportsReference 400m , accessed December 19, 2017
• Montréal 1976 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 33f, English / French (PDF, 23 MB), accessed on December 19, 2017

Video

• 1976 Oympic Games Montreal. Women's 400m Final , posted June 19, 2014 on youtube.com, accessed December 19, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 641 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on 19 December 2017
2. ↑ Montréal 1976 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 23, English / French (PDF, 23 MB), accessed on December 19, 2017
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Montréal 1976 Official Report, Volume III, Results , p. 33, English / French (PDF, 23 MB), accessed on December 19, 2017
4. ↑ SportsReference , accessed December 19, 2017