Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles
Rank Lane Name Nationality Result Notes
1 8 Kemel Thompson Jamaica 48.66 Q , SB
2 3 Naman Keïta France 48.88 Q
3 2 Ockert Cilliers South Africa 49.12 Q
4 4 Edivaldo Monteiro Portugal 49.53 Q
5 6 Ibrahim Al-Hamaidi Saudi Arabia 49.64
6 5 Matthew Douglas Great Britain 49.77
7 7 Ibrahim Tondi Niger 52.62
Results -- Round 1
The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 23 to 26. The first round had split a full roster of runners into eight heats with the first four gaining a direct qualification and then the next four fastest across all heats advancing to the semifinals. The top two runners in each of the three semifinal heats moved on directly to the final, and they were immediately joined by the next two fastest from any of the semifinals. In the final, a false start had been accredited to at least three athletes including Dominican Republic's Félix Sánchez, a solid pre-race favorite in this event. Nonetheless, he sped out of the blocks, and quickly opened his lead over the American and fastest pre-Olympic entrant James Carter on the sixth hurdle. The two had chased against each other towards the final bend with Carter pulling ahead into the lead. As Carter went backwards in the last two hurdles, Sanchez left the field trailing to quickly move again to the front and maintained it to a blazing finish in his seasonal best at 47.63 seconds, extending his winning streak on his forty-third race since the previous defeat in 2001. Behind him, Jamaican hurdler Danny McFarlane and delighted Frenchman Naman Keïta edged Carter out to a ragged fourth to deny the American supremacy on the podium for the first time at a non-boycotted Games since 1968, giving both of them the silver and bronze respectively.