Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. This race was depicted in the film Chariots of Fire. The competition was held on Thursday, July 10, 1924 and on Friday, July 11, 1924.[1]

Men's 400 metres
at the Games of the VIII Olympiad
VenueStade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir
DatesJuly 10 (heats and quarterfinals)
July 11 (semifinals and final)
Competitors60 from 27 nations
Winning time47.6 WR
Medalists
Eric Liddell
 Great Britain
Horatio Fitch
 United States
Guy Butler
 Great Britain
Official Video
Athletics at the
1924 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 mmen
200 mmen
400 mmen
800 mmen
1500 mmen
5000 mmen
10,000 mmen
110 m hurdlesmen
400 m hurdlesmen
3000 m steeplechasemen
4×100 m relaymen
4×400 m relaymen
3000 m team racemen
10 km walkmen
Road events
Marathonmen
Field events
Long jumpmen
Triple jumpmen
High jumpmen
Pole vaultmen
Shot putmen
Discus throwmen
Hammer throwmen
Javelin throwmen
Combined events
Pentathlonmen
Decathlonmen
Cross-country events
Individualmen
Teammen

As for all other races the track was 500 metres in circumference.

Sixty runners from 27 nations competed. No nation had more than 4 athletes.

Background

This was the seventh appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The defending gold medalist from 1920, Bevil Rudd of South Africa, did not return; the other two medalists, silver-winning Guy Butler of Great Britain and bronze-winning Nils Engdahl of Sweden, did. Eric Liddell of Great Britain was the 1924 Scottish and AAA champion.[2]

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Haiti, Ireland, Mexico, Poland, and Switzerland appeared in the event for the first time. The United States made its seventh appearance in the event, the only nation to compete in it at every Olympic Games to that point.

Competition format

The competition retained the basic four-round format from 1920. The first round had 17 heats, ranging from 1 to 5 athletes. The top two runners in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals. There were 6 quarterfinals, intended to have 5 or 6 runners in each but sometimes having 4 due to withdrawals; the top two athletes in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals. The semifinals featured 2 heats of 6 runners each. The top two runners in each semifinal heat advanced, making a six-man final.[2][3]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1924 Summer Olympics.

World record Ted Meredith (USA)47.4(*)Cambridge, United States27 May 1916
Olympic record Charles Reidpath (USA)48.2Stockholm, Sweden13 July 1912

(*) 440 yards (= 402.34 m)

In the quarterfinals, Josef Imbach set a new Olympic record with 48.0 seconds. In the semifinals Horatio Fitch improved the Olympic record with 47.8 seconds. In the final, Eric Liddell set a new world record with 47.6 seconds; this time was ratified as a 400 metres world record as Ted Meredith ran his record over 440 yards. World Athletics rescinded Liddell's time as a world record in 1928.

Schedule
Date Time Round
Thursday, 10 July 192414:00
16:00		Heats
Quarterfinals
Friday, 11 July 192414:45
17:30		Semifinals
Final

Results

Round 1

All heats were held on Thursday, July 10, 1924 and started at 2 p.m.

The best two finishers of every heat qualified for the quarter-finals.

Heat 1
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Horace Aylwin Canada54.0Q
2Erik Wilén Finland54.8Q

Heat 2
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Ray Robertson United States50.2Q
2Kai Jensen Denmark50.9Q
3Jules Migeot Belgium51.6
4Reinhold Kesküll Estonia53.2
5Christophe Mirgain LuxembourgUnknown

Heat 3
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Gustaf Wejnarth Sweden50.2Q
2Lajos Kurunczy Hungary52.6Q
3Richard Honner Australia53.1
4Kiril Petrunov BulgariaUnknown

Heat 4
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Eric Wilson United States49.6Q
2Roy Norman Australia50.6Q
3William Fuller Canada51.5
4Édouard Armand HaitiUnknown

Heat 5
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Josef Imbach Switzerland51.8Q

Heat 6
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1David Johnson Canada51.8Q
2Charles Hoff Norway53.0Q

Heat 7
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1John Coard Taylor United States50.8Q
2Tokushige Noto Japan51.7Q
3Wim Bolten Netherlands53.0

Heat 8
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Toby Betts South Africa49.8Q
2Sean Lavan Ireland51.2Q
3Wim Kat Netherlands51.8
4Guillermo Amparan Mexico52.0

Heat 9
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Artur Svensson Sweden50.0Q
2Raymond Fritz France51.0Q
3Charles Lane Australia51.4
4Menso Johannes Menso NetherlandsUnknown
5Juan Escutia MexicoUnknown

Heat 10
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Clarence Oldfield South Africa49.6Q
2Edward Toms Great Britain49.9Q
3Carlos Garces Mexico51.0
4Emilio Casanovas ArgentinaUnknown

Heat 11
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Nils Engdahl Sweden49.2Q
2George Renwick Great Britain50.3Q
3Francisco Dova Argentina51.0
4José Martínez MexicoUnknown

Heat 12
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Terence Pitt India49.8Q
2Alan Christie Canada50.5Q
3Félix Escobar Argentina51.4
4Raymond Jamois FranceUnknown
5Karel Přibyl Czechoslovakia52.8

Heat 13
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Luigi Facelli Italy51.0Q
2Federico Brewster Argentina51.8Q
3Stefan Ołdak Poland55.0

Heat 14
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Eric Liddell Great Britain50.2Q
2Alfredo Gargiullo Italy50.4Q
3Erik Byléhn Sweden50.6
4Stanisław Świętochowski Poland55.4

Heat 15
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Horatio Fitch United States52.0Q
2Erik Åström Finland52.1Q

Heat 16
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Guy Butler Great Britain50.2Q
2Gaston Féry France51.1Q
3Narciso Costa BrazilUnknown
4Ennio Maffiolini ItalyUnknown
5Christian Simmen SwitzerlandUnknown

Heat 17
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Barthélémy Favodon France51.2Q
2Adriaan Paulen Netherlands52.0Q
3Paul Hammer Luxembourg53.1

Quarterfinals

All quarter-finals were held on Thursday, July 10, 1924 and started at 4 p.m.

The best two finishers of every heat qualified for the semifinals.

Lajos Kurunczy and Erik Åström qualified for the quarterfinals but withdrew.

Quarterfinal 1
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Horatio Fitch United States49.0Q
2Artur Svensson Sweden50.0Q
3Alan Christie Canada50.8
4Edward Toms Great BritainUnknown

Quarterfinal 2
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Toby Betts South Africa49.0Q
2Charles Hoff Norway49.2Q
3Gustaf Wejnarth Sweden50.2
4Gaston Féry France50.7

Quarterfinal 3
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Guy Butler Great Britain49.8Q
2John Coard Taylor United States50.4Q
3Barthélémy Favodon France50.9
4Terence Pitt India51.6
5Kai Jensen DenmarkUnknown
6Federico Brewster ArgentinaUnknown

Quarterfinal 4
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Adriaan Paulen Netherlands49.0Q
2Eric Liddell Great Britain49.3Q
3Ray Robertson United States49.5
4Luigi Facelli Italy50.5
5Raymond Fritz France50.5

Quarterfinal 5
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Clarence Oldfield South Africa49.0Q
2David Johnson Canada49.3Q
3Erik Wilén Finland49.6
4Roy Norman Australia50.2
5Alfredo Gargiullo ItalyUnknown
6George Renwick Great BritainUnknown

Quarterfinal 6
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Josef Imbach Switzerland48.0Q, OR
2Nils Engdahl Sweden48.4Q
3Eric Wilson United States48.8
4Sean Lavan Ireland49.8
5Tokushige Noto Japan50.7
6Horace Aylwin CanadaUnknown

Semifinals

All semi-finals were held on Friday, July 11, 1924 and started at 2:45 p.m.

The best three finishers of each heat qualified for the final.

Semifinal 1
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Horatio Fitch United States47.8Q, OR
2Guy Butler Great Britain47.9Q
3David Johnson Canada48.0Q
4Adriaan Paulen Netherlands48.2
5Toby Betts South Africa48.4
6Nils Engdahl Sweden48.6

Semifinal 2
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Eric Liddell Great Britain48.2Q
2Josef Imbach Switzerland48.3Q
3John Coard Taylor United States48.7Q
4Charles Hoff Norway48.8
5Clarence Oldfield South Africa49.0
6Artur Svensson Sweden49.1

Final

The final was held on Friday, July 11, 1924 and started at 5:30 p.m.. Taylor's ankle gave out just before the finish line in a career-ending injury; he crawled across the line.[4][5][6] Imbach tripped over the lane-dividing ropes, fell, and was unable to finish.[7][8]

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
Eric Liddell Great Britain47.6OR
Horatio Fitch United States48.4
Guy Butler Great Britain48.6
4David Johnson Canada48.8
5John Coard Taylor United States1:07.0
—Josef Imbach SwitzerlandDNF

References
  1. "Athletics at the 1924 Paris Summer Games: Men's 400 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  2. "400 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  3. Official Report, pp. 108–09.
  4. Hymans, Richard (2008). "The History of the United States Olympic Trials – Track & Field" (PDF). USA Track & Field. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  5. Associated Press (April 25, 1928). "U.S. Jinxed In 400 Meter Race At Olympic Meet". Ellensburg Daily Record. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  6. "120 Olympic Stars Retire From Track". Chicago Tribune. January 11, 1925. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  7. Jukola, Martti (1935). Huippu-urheilun historia (in Finnish). Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö.
  8. Butler, Mark (ed.). IAAF Athletics Statistics Book: Games of the XXX Olympiad London 2012. IAAF Communications Department. p. 69.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
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