2000 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m (women)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter run
gender	Women
Attendees	56 athletes from 42 countries
Competition location	Stadium Australia
Competition phase	September 22, 2000 (preliminary round) September 23, 2000 (quarter-finals) September 24, 2000 (semi-finals) September 25, 2000 (final)
Medalists Cathy Freeman ( AUS )   Lorraine Fenton ( JAM )   Katharine Merry ( GBR )

The women's 400-meter run at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney was held on September 22, 23, 24 and 25, 2000 at Stadium Australia . 56 athletes took part.

The Australian Cathy Freeman was Olympic champion . She won ahead of the Jamaican Lorraine Fenton and Katharine Merry from Great Britain.

Athletes from Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current titleholders

Olympic champion 1996	Marie-José Pérec ( France )	48.25 s	Atlanta 1996
World Champion 1999	Cathy Freeman ( Australia )	49.67 s	Seville 1999
European Champion 1998	Grit Breuer ( Germany )	49.93 s	Budapest 1998
Pan American Champion 1999	Ana Guevara ( Mexico )	50.91 s	Winnipeg 1999
Central America and Caribbean champion 1999	Vernetta Lesforis ( St. Lucia )	52.21 s	Bridgetown 1999
South America Champion 1999	Norfalia Carabalí ( Colombia )	52.92 s	Bogotá 1999
Asian Champion 2000	Damayanthi Dharsha ( Sri Lanka )	51.05 s	Jakarta 2000
African champion 2000	Claudine Komgang ( Cameroon )	51.35 s	Algiers 2000
Oceania Champion 2000	Mary Estelle Kapalu ( Vanuatu )	55.37 s	Adelaide 2000

Existing records

World record	47.80 s	Marita Koch ( GDR )	Canberra , Australia	October 6, 1985
Olympic record	48.25 s	Marie-José Pérec ( France )	Atlanta Final , USA	July 29, 1996

Note: All times are based on Sydney local time ( UTC + 10 ).

Preliminary round

A total of eight preliminary runs were completed. The first three athletes per run qualified for the quarter-finals. In addition, the eight fastest times, the so-called lucky losers , made it through. The directly qualified runners are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Forward 1

September 22, 2000, 7:24 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	LaTasha Colander	United States	51.75
2	Mireille Nguimgo	Cameroon	51.88
3	Heide Seyerling	South Africa	51.92
4th	Foy Williams	Canada	52.94
5	Christine Amertil	Bahamas	53.12
6th	Oksana Lunewa	Kyrgyzstan	54.98
7th	Hazel-Ann Regis	Grenada	55.11

Forward 2

September 22, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Charity Opara	Nigeria	51.77
2	Natalia Nazarova	Russia	52.05
3	Damayanthi darsha	Sri Lanka	52.13
4th	Kaltouma Nadjina	Chad	52.34
5	Lee Naylor	Australia	53.10
6th	Svetlana Bodritskaya	Kazakhstan	53.91
7th	Lilian Bwalya	Zambia	54.77
8th	Maritza Figueroa	Nicaragua	58.82

Forward 3

September 22, 2000, 7:36 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Amy Mbacké Thiam	Senegal	51.79
2	Ana Guevara	Mexico	52.34
3	Otilia Ruicu-Eşanu	Romania	52.65
4th	Karen Shinkins	Ireland	53.27
5	Norma González	Colombia	53.34
6th	Safia Abukar Hussein	Somalia	73.25

Forward 4

September 22nd, 2000,
7:24 pm Norfalia Carabalí, who had become South American champion starting for Colombia in 1999, took on Spanish citizenship in 2000 and has competed for Spain ever since.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Cathy Freeman	Australia	51.63
2	Monique Hennagan	United States	51.73
3	Claudine Komgang	Cameroon	51.74
4th	Norfalia Carabalí	Spain	52.36
5	Olena Rurak	Ukraine	53.45
6th	Kristina Perica	Croatia	53.72
7th	Awatef Ben Hassine	Tunisia	54.50

Forward 5

September 22, 2000, 7:48 p.m.

The French Olympic champion from 1996 Marie-José Pérec , who was registered for the run , did not take part. She left early because she felt harassed and persecuted by the Australian press. The background here was also the special importance of this competition for the Australians due to the favorite position of the domestic double world champion Cathy Freeman and a rivalry with Marie-José Pérec, which the media hyped up.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Katharine Merry	Great Britain	51.61
2	Sandie Richards	Jamaica	51.86
3	Nova Peris	Australia	52.51
4th	Hana Benešová	Czech Republic	52.85
5	Aliann Pompey	Guyana	53.09
6th	Verneta Lesforis	St. Lucia	54.67
7th	Klodiana Shala	Albania	56.41
DNS	Marie-José Pérec	France

Forward 6

September 22, 2000, 7:54 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Jitka Burianová	Czech Republic	51.59
2	Olabisi Afolabi	Nigeria	51.62
3	Lorraine Fenton	Jamaica	51.65
4th	Allison Curbishley	Great Britain	52.20
5	Barbara Petráhn	Hungary	52.86
6th	Tonique Williams-Darling	Bahamas	53.43
7th	Marcia Daniel	Dominica	58.20
8th	Haissa Ali Garba	Niger	67.49

Forward 7

September 22, 2000, 8:00 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Kalayathumkuzhi Beenamol	India	51.51
2	Olga Kotlyarova	Russia	51.99
3	Žana Minina	Lithuania	52.38
4th	Michelle Collins	United States	53.66
5	Tanya Oxley	Barbados	54.22
6th	Daniela Georgiewa	Bulgaria	54.46
7th	Dijana Kojić	Bosnia and Herzegovina	55.61
8th	Awmima Mohamed	Sudan	62.94

Forward 8

September 22, 2000, 8:06 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	LaDonna Antoine-Watkins	Canada	51.78
2	Falilat Ogunkoya	Nigeria	51.88
3	Donna Fraser	Great Britain	52.33
4th	Svetlana Pospelova	Russia	53.34
5	Elena Piskunova	Uzbekistan	55.40
6th	Ann Mooney	Papua New Guinea	55.55
DNS	Brigita Langerholc	Slovenia

Quarter finals

In each of the four quarter-finals, the first four athletes qualified for the semi-finals (highlighted in light blue).

Run 1

September 23, 2000, 7:30 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Jitka Burianová	Czech Republic	50.85
2	LaDonna Antoine-Watkins	Canada	50.92
3	Nova Peris	Australia	51.28
4th	Natalia Nazarova	Russia	51.44
5	Claudine Komgang	Cameroon	51.57
6th	Monique Hennagan	United States	51.85
7th	Kaltouma Nadjina	Chad	52.60
8th	Aliann Pompey	Guyana	53.42

Run 2

September 23, 2000, 7:37 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Katharine Merry	Great Britain	50.50
2	Heide Seyerling	South Africa	50.87
3	Olga Kotlyarova	Russia	50.97
4th	Sandie Richards	Jamaica	51.00
5	Charity Opara	Nigeria	51.04
6th	Žana Minina	Lithuania	52.53
7th	Norfalia Carabalí	Spain	52.63
8th	Foy Williams	Canada	52.68

Run 3

September 23, 2000, 7:44 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Lorraine Fenton	Jamaica	50.66
2	Ana Guevara	Mexico	51.19
3	Amy Mbacké Thiam	Senegal	51.64
4th	Kalayathumkuzhi Beenamol	India	51.81
5	Olabisi Afolabi	Nigeria	51.87
6th	Otilia Ruicu-Eşanu	Romania	52.28
7th	Allison Curbishley	Great Britain	52.50
8th	Lee Naylor	Australia	53.83

Run 4

The American LaTasha Colander was eliminated in the quarterfinals as fifth of her run

September 23, 2000, 7:51 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Cathy Freeman	Australia	50.31
2	Falilat Ogunkoya	Nigeria	50.49
3	Donna Fraser	Great Britain	50.77
4th	Mireille Nguimgo	Cameroon	51.08
5	LaTasha Colander	United States	53.45
6th	Damayanthi darsha	Sri Lanka	52.35
7th	Hana Benešová	Czech Republic	52.70
8th	Barbara Petráhn	Hungary	52.72

Semifinals

The first four runners in each of the two races (highlighted in light blue) qualified for the final.

Run 1

September 24, 2000, 8:00 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Lorraine Fenton	Jamaica	50.28
2	Katharine Merry	Great Britain	50.32
3	Heide Seyerling	South Africa	51.06
4th	Olga Kotlyarova	Russia	51.21
5	LaDonna Antoine-Watkins	Canada	51.26
6th	Natalia Nazarova	Russia	51.83
7th	Mireille Nguimgo	Cameroon	52.03
8th	Nova Peris	Australia	52.49

Run 2

Amy Mbacké Thiam from Senegal reached the semi-finals and was eliminated there as the seventh of her run

September 24, 2000, 8:07 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Cathy Freeman	Australia	50.01
2	Ana Guevara	Mexico	50.11
3	Falilat Ogunkoya	Nigeria	50.18
4th	Donna Fraser	Great Britain	50.21
5	Sandie Richards	Jamaica	50.42
6th	Jitka Burianová	Czech Republic	51.15
7th	Amy Mbacké Thiam	Senegal	51.60
8th	Kalayathumkuzhi Beenamol	India	52.04

final

Olympic champion Cathy Freeman, Australia, shortly before the start of the finals

British Olympic gold medalist Donna Fraser

September 25, 2000, 8:10 p.m.

Two athletes from Great Britain and one runner each from Australia, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia and South Africa qualified for the final.

The favorite was the Australian 1999 and 1997 world champion Cathy Freeman, who faced the pressure of great expectations from her compatriots. Her stated goal was to win the Olympics. She also played a special role as a spokesperson for the emancipation of the Australian aborigines, which included her ancestors and herself. But she had strong opponents, including the Jamaican World Cup third Lorraine Fenton - who started under her name Lorraine Graham until 1999, the World Cup fourth Falilat Ogunkoya from Nigeria and the British World Cup fifth Katharine Merry.

The race was close and it wasn't made easy for Freeman. At the exit of the target curve she was in third place with a narrow gap to the leading Fenton and Merry, who was second at this point. With fifty yards to go, Freeman and Fenton were tied. Cathy Freeman clearly had the best stamina and took the gold medal with 47 hundredths of a second ahead of Lorraine Fenton. Katharine Merry held her third place fourteen hundredths of a second behind Fenton and won the bronze medal with just under seven hundredths of a second ahead of her compatriot Donna Fraser. The Mexican Ana Guevara, who crossed the finish line in fifth place, also stayed below the 50-second mark with 49.96 seconds.

Lorraine Fenton was the first Jamaican medalist in the discipline.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Cathy Freeman	Australia	49.11
2	Lorraine Fenton	Jamaica	49.58
3	Katharine Merry	Great Britain	49.72
4th	Donna Fraser	Great Britain	49.79
5	Ana Guevara	Mexico	49.96
6th	Heide Seyerling	South Africa	50.05	NO
7th	Falilat Ogunkoya	Nigeria	50.12
8th	Olga Kotlyarova	Russia	51.04

literature

• Rudi Cerne (Ed.), Sydney 2000, The Games of the XXVII. Olympiad with contributions by Rudi Cerne, Birgit Fischer , Willi Phillip Knecht , Willi Leissl and Jan Ullrich , MOHN Media Mohndruck GmbH, Gütersloh, p. 62f

Web links

• SportsReference 400m , accessed April 4, 2018
• Results on the IAAF website , accessed April 4, 2018
• Official Report of the XXVIIth Olympiad, Results , English / French (PDF, 17,708 MB), accessed on April 4, 2018

Video

• Cathy Freeman wins 400m gold - On This Day September 25 , published September 25, 2015 on youtube.com, accessed April 4, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 794 , accessed on April 4, 2018
2. ↑ Report in Spiegel dated September 22, 2000 , accessed on April 4, 2018