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


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.
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. Before the home crowd, Ohuruogu approached the finish line with a trademark late surge, coming from several steps off the pace to catch Deedee Trotter for the silver medal, Trotter holding on for the bronze.

Competition format

The women's 400m competition consisted of heats, Semifinals and a Final.

Records

, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
World record47.60Canberra, Australia6 October 1985
Olympic record48.25Atlanta, United States29 July 1996
2012 World leading49.16Cheboksary, Russia5 July 2012

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time
DateTimeRound
Friday, 3 August 201212:00Round 1
Saturday, 4 August 201220:05Semifinals
Sunday, 5 August 201221:10Finals

Heats

Qual. rule: first 3 of each heat plus the 3 fastest times qualified.

Heat 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Francena McCorory50.78Q
2Christine Ohuruogu50.80Q
3Joy Nakhumicha Sakari51.85Q, SB
4Joanne Cuddihy52.09q
5Geisa Aparecida Coutinho53.43
6Marina Maslenko53.66
7Zamzam Mohamed Farah1:20.48

Heat 2

Heat 3

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1DeeDee Trotter50.87Q
2Rosemarie Whyte50.90Q
3Jenna Martin51.98Q
4Omolara Omotosho52.11q
5Raysa Sánchez52.47
6Aauri Bokesa53.67
7Zourah Ali1:05.37

Heat 4

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Sanya Richards-Ross51.78Q
2Carol Rodríguez52.19Q
3Tjipekapora Herunga52.31Q
4Pınar Saka52.38
5Sviatlana Usovich52.40
6Phumlile Ndzinisa53.95
7Hristina Risteska1:00.86

Heat 5

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
DSQAntonina Krivoshapka50.75Q
2Alina Lohvynenko52.08Q
3Lee McConnell52.23Q
4Moa Hjelmer52.86
5Ambwene Simukonda54.20NR
6Danielle Alakija56.77
Kanika Beckles

Heat 6

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Novlene Williams-Mills50.88Q
2Nataliya Pyhyda51.09Q, PB
3Libania Grenot52.13Q
4Joelma Sousa52.69
5Bianca Răzor52.83
6Maziah Mahusin59.28NR
Kineke Alexander

Heat 7

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Regina George51.24Q
2Yuliya Gushchina51.54Q
3Marlena Wesh51.98Q
4Amy Mbacke Thiam53.23
5Olesea Cojuhari53.64
6Graciela Martins58.30
Jennifer Padilla

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Semi-finals

Qual. rule: first 2 of each heat plus the 2 fastest times qualified.

Heat 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Sanya Richards-Ross50.07Q
2Christine Ohuruogu50.22Q, SB
3Rosemarie Whyte50.98q
4Yuliya Gushchina51.66
5Joanne Cuddihy51.88
6Tjipekapora Herunga52.53
7Jenna Martin52.83
8Joy Nakhumicha Sakari52.95

Heat 2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Amantle Montsho50.15Q
2Francena McCorory50.19Q
3Libania Grenot51.18
4Christine Day51.19
5Regina George51.35
6Alina Lohvynenko51.38
7Aliann Pompey52.58
8Shana Cox52.58

Heat 3

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
DSQAntonina Krivoshapka49.81Q
2DeeDee Trotter49.87Q, SB
3Novlene Williams-Mills49.91q
4Omolara Omotosho51.41
5Nataliya Pyhyda51.41
6Carol Rodríguez52.08
7Lee McConnell52.24
8Marlena Wesh52.49

Final