Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres

Men's 400 metres at the Games of the VII Olympiad
Venue	Olympisch Stadion
Dates	August 19–20
Competitors	37 from 16 nations
Medalists
Bevil Rudd 23x15px South Africa Guy Butler  Great Britain Nils Engdahl  Sweden

Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men
200 m		men
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men
4×400 m relay		men
3000 m team race		men
3 km walk		men
10 km walk		men
Road events
Marathon	men
Field events
Long jump	men
Triple jump	men
High jump	men
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men
Discus throw	men
Hammer throw	men
Javelin throw	men
56 lb weight throw	men
Combined events
Pentathlon	men
Decathlon	men
Cross-country events
Individual	men
Team	men

The men's 400 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Thursday, August 19, 1920, and on Friday, August 20, 1920.

37 runners from 16 nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World Record	47.4(*)	Ted Meredith	Cambridge, MA (USA)	May 27, 1916
Olympic Record	48.2	Charles Reidpath	Stockholm (SWE)	July 13, 1912

(*) 440 yards (= 402.34 m)

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Robert Lindsay (GBR)	52.0	Q
2	22x20px Clarence Oldfield (RSA)	52.2	Q
3	Tolly Bolin (SWE)	52.6

Heat 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Gaston Féry (FRA)	51.1	Q
2	John Ainsworth-Davis (GBR)	51.3	Q
3	Karel Frankenstein (TCH)	51.8
4	22x20px Frank Irvine (RSA)

Heat 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Frank Shea (USA)	50.8	Q
2	22x20px Henry Dafel (RSA)	51.2	Q
3	Sven Krokström (SWE)	51.6

Heat 4

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Ted Meredith (USA)	51.6	Q
2	Géo André (FRA)	52.3	Q
3	Giuseppe Bernardoni (ITA)	52.8

Heat 5

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	22x20px Bevil Rudd (RSA)	50.6	Q
2	Erik Wilén (FIN)	51.1	Q
3	Reinhold Saulmann (EST)	51.6
4	Giovanni Tosi (ITA)	51.8

Heat 6

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Robert Emery (USA)	52.6	Q
2	Guy Butler (GBR)	53.2	Q
3	Karel Přibyl (TCH)	54.0
4	Jules Migeot (BEL)	55.1

Heat 7

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	George Schiller (USA)	50.4	Q
2	Nils Engdahl (SWE)	50.6	Q
3	Maurice Delvart (FRA)	50.9
4	Einar Mangset (NOR)	51.3

Heat 8

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Eric Sundblad (SWE)	52.0	Q
2	22x20px Hec Phillips (CAN)	52.3	Q
3	Agide Simonazzi (ITA)	53.0
4	Purma Bannerjee (IND)	53.1

Heat 9

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Omer Corteyn (BEL)	52.2	Q
2	Hedges Worthington-Eyre (GBR)	52.5	Q
3	Jean Proess (LUX)	52.6
4	22x20px José García Lorenzana (ESP)	52.8

Heat 10

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	François Morren (BEL)	51.6	Q
2	22x20px Miguel García Onsalo (ESP)	52.0	Q
3	Eugène Bayon (FRA)	52.4
4	Ahmed Khairy (EGY)

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Nils Engdahl (SWE)	50.4	Q
2	John Ainsworth-Davis (GBR)	50.7	Q
3	Robert Emery (USA)	50.7	Q
4	François Morren (BEL)	50.8
5	22x20px Clarence Oldfield (RSA)	51.1

Quarterfinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Gaston Féry (FRA)	50.6	Q
2	Guy Butler (GBR)	50.7	Q
3	Ted Meredith (USA)	50.8	Q
4	Erik Wilén (FIN)	51.1
5	22x20px Hec Phillips (CAN)	51.5

Quarterfinal 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	22x20px Henry Dafel (RSA)	51.0	Q
2	George Schiller (USA)	51.3	Q
3	Eric Sundblad (SWE)	51.4	Q
4	Robert Lindsay (GBR)	51.7
5	Omer Corteyn (BEL)	52.1

Quarterfinal 4

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Frank Shea (USA)	51.0	Q
2	22x20px Bevil Rudd (RSA)	51.2	Q
3	Géo André (FRA)	51.3	Q
4	22x20px Miguel García Onsalo (ESP)	52.6
5	Hedges Worthington-Eyre (GBR)	52.7

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Nils Engdahl (SWE)	49.6	Q
2	22x20px Bevil Rudd (RSA)	49.7	Q
3	John Ainsworth-Davis (GBR)	49.9	Q
4	Robert Emery (USA)
5	George Schiller (USA)
6	Gaston Féry (FRA)

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Frank Shea (USA)	50.0	Q
2	Guy Butler (GBR)	50.2	Q
3	22x20px Henry Dafel (RSA)	50.4	Q
4	Ted Meredith (USA)	50.4
5	Géo André (FRA)	50.5
6	Eric Sundblad (SWE)	52.0

Final

Place	Athlete	Time
1	22x20px Bevil Rudd (RSA)	49.6
2	Guy Butler (GBR)	49.9
3	Nils Engdahl (SWE)	49.9
4	Frank Shea (USA)	49.9
5	John Ainsworth-Davis (GBR)	50.0
6	22x20px Henry Dafel (RSA)	50.1

References

• www.sports-reference.com