# Athletics at the 1981 Summer Universiade – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres event at the 1981 Summer Universiade was held at the Stadionul Naţional in Bucharest on 23, 24 and 25 July 1981.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Cliff Wiley United States | Walter McCoy United States | Gérson de Souza Brazil |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Walter McCoy | United States | 46.32 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Cliff Wiley | United States | 46.70 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Viktor Burakov | Soviet Union | 46.76 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Vitaliy Fedotov | Soviet Union | 46.81 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Gérson de Souza | Brazil | 46.99 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | Benjamín González | Spain | 47.05 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | Roberto Tozzi | Italy | 47.12 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | Avognan Nogboum | Ivory Coast | 47.18 | q |
| 8 | 3 | Goran Humar | Yugoslavia | 47.18 | Q |
| 10 | 6 | Melvin Fowell | Great Britain | 47.23 | Q |
| 11 | 3 | Urs Kamber | Switzerland | 47.32 | q |
| 12 | 5 | Stefano Malinverni | Italy | 47.47 | Q |
| 13 | 6 | Carlos Reyté | Cuba | 47.57 | Q |
| 14 | 5 | Christoph Trappe | West Germany | 47.60 | Q |
| 15 | 1 | Uwe Wegner | West Germany | 47.83 | Q |
| 16 | 1 | Shigenori Omori | Japan | 47.89 | Q |
| 17 | 5 | Roberto Ramos | Cuba | 47.90 | Q |
| 18 | 1 | Silvio Almanzar | Dominican Republic | 48.00 | q |
| 19 | 4 | Marcel Klarenbeek | Netherlands | 48.09 | Q |
| 20 | 5 | Jean Didoce Mbemou | Congo | 48.27 | q |
| 21 | 3 | Nikolaos Megalemos | Greece | 48.49 | q |
| 22 | 4 | Alphonse Mandonda | Congo | 48.79 | Q |
| 23 | 5 | Takashi Nagao | Japan | 48.82 | q |
| 24 | 2 | Murat Akman | Turkey | 49.07 | |
| 25 | 2 | Zsigmond Nagy | Romania | 49.53 | |
| 26 | 4 | Horia Toboc | Romania | 49.67 | Q |
| 27 | 6 | Sergio Barajas | Mexico | 49.95 | |
| 28 | 6 | Yukihiro Minami | Mexico | 50.03 | |
| 29 | 4 | Yoav Meckel | Israel | 50.14 | |
| 30 | 1 | Fadi Rahme | Lebanon | 51.53 | |
| 31 | 4 | Edward Maadandedjian | Lebanon | 52.54 | |
| 32 | 2 | Paul Caruana | Malta | 53.76 | |

### Semifinals

| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Walter McCoy | United States | 45.90 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Cliff Wiley | United States | 46.12 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Stefano Malinverni | Italy | 46.21 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Marcel Klarenbeek | Netherlands | 46.45 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Carlos Reyté | Cuba | 46.47 | q |
| 6 | 1 | Benjamín González | Spain | 46.48 | q |
| 7 | 3 | Viktor Burakov | Soviet Union | 46.55 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | Vitaliy Fedotov | Soviet Union | 46.56 | |
| 9 | 3 | Gérson de Souza | Brazil | 46.77 | Q |
| 10 | 3 | Melvin Fowell | Great Britain | 46.94 | |
| 11 | 3 | Uwe Wegner | West Germany | 47.03 | |
| 12 | 2 | Goran Humar | Yugoslavia | 47.16 | |
| 13 | 1 | Urs Kamber | Switzerland | 47.22 | |
| 14 | 1 | Roberto Tozzi | Italy | 47.27 | |
| 15 | 2 | Avognan Nogboum | Ivory Coast | 47.33 | |
| 16 | 1 | Silvio Almanzar | Dominican Republic | 47.84 | |
| 17 | 3 | Alphonse Mandonda | Congo | 48.08 | |
| 18 | 2 | Jean Didoce Mbemou | Congo | 48.26 | |
| 19 | 2 | Roberto Ramos | Cuba | 48.29 | |
| 20 | 3 | Nikolaos Megalemos | Greece | 48.33 | |
| 21 | 1 | Horia Toboc | Romania | 48.41 | |
| 22 | 3 | Shigenori Omori | Japan | 48.64 | |
| | ? | Christoph Trappe | West Germany | ? | |
| | ? | Takashi Nagao | Japan | ? | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time |
| | Cliff Wiley | United States | 45.18 |
| | Walter McCoy | United States | 45.33 |
| | Gérson de Souza | Brazil | 45.91 |
| 4 | Carlos Reyté | Cuba | 46.10 |
| 5 | Stefano Malinverni | Italy | 46.35 |
| 6 | Marcel Klarenbeek | Netherlands | 46.41 |
| 7 | Benjamín González | Spain | 46.56 |
| 8 | Viktor Burakov | Soviet Union | 46.57 |