Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres

Women's 400 metres; at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Date	3–5 August
Competitors	49 from 40 nations
Winning time	49.55
Medalists
	← 2008 2016 →

Official Video

Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
5000 m	men	women
10,000 m	men	women
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men	women
3000 m steeplechase	men	women
4×100 m relay	men	women
4×400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men	women
20 km walk	men	women
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men	women
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men	women
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men	women
Combined events
Heptathlon		women
Decathlon	men
This box: view talk edit

The Women's 400 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 3–5 August.^[1]

London rains became a part of the qualifying round, where the favorites tried to make the final with minimum effort. 52.11 was the slowest time qualifier, though Tjipekapora Herunga managed a 52.31 for the slowest automatic qualifier.

In the semi-final, the weather was better. In the first semi, Sanya Richards-Ross was matched with the defending champion Christine Ohuruogu, with only two automatic qualifiers. At the gun, Richards-Ross took off, making up most of the stagger on Krivoshapka to her immediate outside. Relaxing the backstretch but exploding on the second turn, Richards-Ross had built up a huge lead, then slowed considerably on the home stretch letting Ohuruogu gain almost all the lead back. The second semi turned into a match race between Francena McCorory and world champion Amantle Montsho, running stride for stride together far ahead of the others until Montsho dipped to place first. The third semi was a much faster affair. 2012 World leader Antonina Krivoshapka took the race out as if it were the final, making up the stagger during the first turn and coming off the turn with a huge lead. She also slowed on the homestretch and looked to struggle to hold off DeeDee Trotter and Novlene Williams-Mills. Third place Williams-Mills became a time qualifier faster than the previous two heats.

In the final, unlike the memorable race four years earlier, where Richards-Ross burned herself out building a huge lead, this time Krivoshapka had the large lead through the halfway mark and held it to the home stretch, with the three Americans spread across the track a step behind. McCorory and Krivoshapka began to struggle as first Trotter, then Richards-Ross seized the lead which she would not relinquish.

Richards-Ross won the Olympic 400m title at a time of 49.55 seconds; it was not a season's best and not one of her particularly quick times, but it did not matter. Before the home crowd, Ohuruogu came from several steps off the pace to catch Trotter for the silver medal, running a seasonal best of 49.70, just eight hundredths of a second slower than the time in which she won the 2008 Olympic title. Trotter also ran a season's best of 49.72 to win the bronze medal.

Competition format

The Women's 400m competition consisted of heats (Round 1), Semifinals and a Final.^[2]

Records

Prior to the competition^[update], the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Marita Koch (GDR)	47.60	Canberra, Australia	6 October 1985
Olympic record	Marie-José Pérec (FRA)	48.25	Atlanta, United States	29 July 1996
2012 World leading	Antonina Krivoshapka (RUS)	49.16	Cheboksary, Russia	5 July 2012

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date	Time	Round
Friday, 3 August 2012	12:00	Round 1
Saturday, 4 August 2012	20:05	Semifinals
Sunday, 5 August 2012	21:10	Finals

Heats

Official video of First Round

Entrants as of 27 July 2012.^[3]

Qual. rule: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 3 fastest times (q) qualified.

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Francena McCorory	United States	50.78	Q
2	Christine Ohuruogu	Great Britain	50.80	Q
3	Joy Nakhumicha Sakari	Kenya	51.85	Q, SB
4	Joanne Cuddihy	Ireland	52.09	q
5	Geisa Aparecida Coutinho	Brazil	53.43
6	Marina Maslenko	Kazakhstan	53.66
7	Zamzam Mohamed Farah	Somalia	1:20.48

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Amantle Montsho	Botswana	50.40	Q
2	Christine Day	Jamaica	51.05	Q
3	Shana Cox	Great Britain	52.01	Q
4	Aliann Pompey	Guyana	52.10	q, =SB
5	Afia Charles	Antigua and Barbuda	54.25
6	Ingrid Yahoska Narvaez	Nicaragua	59.55	=SB
N/A	Shaunae Miller	Bahamas	N/A	DNF

Heat 3

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	DeeDee Trotter	United States	50.87	Q
2	Rosemarie Whyte	Jamaica	50.90	Q
3	Jenna Martin	Canada	51.98	Q
4	Omolara Omotosho	Nigeria	52.11	q
5	Raysa Sánchez	Dominican Republic	52.47
6	Aauri Bokesa	Spain	53.67
7	Zourah Ali	Djibouti	1:05.37

Heat 4

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Sanya Richards-Ross	United States	51.78	Q
2	Carol Rodríguez	Puerto Rico	52.19	Q
3	Tjipekapora Herunga	Namibia	52.31	Q
4	Pınar Saka	Turkey	52.38
5	Sviatlana Usovich	Belarus	52.40
6	Phumlile Ndzinisa	Eswatini	53.95
7	Hristina Risteska	North Macedonia	1:00.86

Heat 5

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Antonina Krivoshapka	Russia	50.75	Q
2	Alina Lohvynenko	Ukraine	52.08	Q
3	Lee McConnell	Great Britain	52.23	Q
4	Moa Hjelmer	Sweden	52.86
5	Ambwene Simukonda	Malawi	54.20	NR
6	Danielle Alakija	Fiji	56.77
N/A	Kanika Beckles	Grenada	N/A	DNS

Heat 6

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Novlene Williams-Mills	Jamaica	50.88	Q
2	Nataliya Pyhyda	Ukraine	51.09	Q, PB
3	Libania Grenot	Italy	52.13	Q
4	Joelma Sousa	Brazil	52.69
5	Bianca Răzor	Romania	52.83
6	Maziah Mahusin	Brunei	59.28	NR
N/A	Kineke Alexander	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	N/A	DNF

Heat 7

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Regina George	Nigeria	51.24	Q
2	Yuliya Gushchina	Russia	51.54	Q
3	Marlena Wesh	Haiti	51.98	Q
4	Amy Mbacke Thiam	Senegal	53.23
5	Olesea Cojuhari	Moldova	53.64
6	Graciela Martins	Guinea-Bissau	58.30
N/A	Jennifer Padilla	Colombia	N/A	DQ

Jennifer Padilla originally finished in third place with a time of 51.74, but was disqualified due to lane infringement. As a result, Marlena Wesh moved up to third position to qualify for the semi-finals.

Official Video of Semifinal Round