# Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres

The Women's 400 metres competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada was held at the Olympic Stadium on 25–29 July.
The winning margin was an impressive 1.23 seconds, which as of 2023 remains the only time the women's Olympic 400 metres has been won by more than a second.

## Competition format

The Women's 400m competition consisted of heats (Round 1), quarterfinals, semifinals and a final. The five fastest competitors from each race in the heats plus the next two fastest overall qualified for the Quarterfinals. The four fastest competitors from each of the Quarterfinal races qualified for the Semifinals, where again the four fastest runners from each heat, advanced to the final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows:
| World record | Irena Szewińska (POL) | 49.75 | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 22 June 1976 |
| Olympic record | Monika Zehrt (GDR) | 51.08 | Munich, West Germany | 7 September 1972 |

## Results
### Round 1

Qual. rule: first 5 of each heat (Q) plus the two fastest times (q) qualified.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Christina Brehmer | East Germany | 52.45 | Q |
| 2 | Verona Bernard-Elder | Great Britain | 52.60 | Q |
| 3 | Rita Wilden | West Germany | 53.08 | Q |
| 4 | Lorna Forde | Barbados | 53.93 | Q |
| 5 | Rachelle Campbell | Canada | 54.54 | Q |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Debra Sapenter | United States | 52.33 | Q |
| 2 | Donna Hartley | Great Britain | 52.75 | Q |
| 3 | Marita Koch | East Germany | 52.78 | Q |
| 4 | Regina Berg | Belgium | 53.66 | Q |
| 5 | Silvia Hollmann | West Germany | 53.73 | Q |
| 6 | Helen Blake | Jamaica | 53.93 | |
| 7 | Ileana Hocking | Puerto Rico | 57.85 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ellen Streidt | East Germany | 52.56 | Q |
| 2 | Christiane Wildschek | Austria | 52.65 | Q |
| 3 | Judy Canty | Australia | 52.88 | Q |
| 4 | Marilyn Neufville | Jamaica | 52.93 | Q |
| 5 | Rosine Wallez | Belgium | 52.94 | Q |
| 6 | Jelica Pavličić | Yugoslavia | 54.11 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sheila Ingram | United States | 51.83 | Q |
| 2 | Nataliya Sokolova | Soviet Union | 52.45 | Q |
| 3 | Irena Szewińska | Poland | 52.75 | Q |
| 4 | Joyce Yakubowich | Canada | 53.35 | Q |
| 5 | Gladys Taylor | Great Britain | 53.46 | Q |
| 6 | Marika Lindholm | Finland | 53.64 | q |
| 7 | Célestine N'Drin | Ivory Coast | 54.13 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rosalyn Bryant | United States | 52.01 | Q |
| 2 | Riitta Salin | Finland | 52.57 | Q |
| 3 | Lyudmila Aksyonova | Soviet Union | 52.90 | Q |
| 4 | Bethanie Nail | Australia | 52.98 | Q |
| 5 | Ruth Williams-Simpson | Jamaica | 54.07 | Q |
| 6 | Helen Ritter | Liechtenstein | 58.52 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Nadezhda Ilyina | Soviet Union | 51.97 | Q |
| 2 | Verna Burnard | Australia | 52.10 | Q |
| 3 | Dagmar Fuhrmann | West Germany | 52.58 | Q |
| 4 | Pirjo Häggman | Finland | 52.73 | Q |
| 5 | Margaret Stride | Canada | 53.21 | Q |
| 6 | Rita Bottiglieri | Italy | 53.37 | q |
| 7 | Rose-Marie Gauthier | Haiti | 1:13.27 | |

### Quarterfinals
#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sheila Ingram | United States | 51.31 | Q |
| 2 | Ellen Streidt | East Germany | 51.33 | Q |
| 3 | Pirjo Häggman | Finland | 51.65 | Q |
| 4 | Lyudmila Aksyonova | Soviet Union | 51.73 | Q |
| 5 | Dagmar Fuhrmann | West Germany | 52.02 | |
| 6 | Judy Canty | Australia | 52.65 | |
| 7 | Lorna Forde | Barbados | 53.62 | |
| 8 | Rachelle Campbell | Canada | 54.16 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Nataliya Sokolova | Soviet Union | 51.63 | Q |
| 2 | Christina Brehmer | East Germany | 51.67 | Q |
| 3 | Verna Burnard | Australia | 51.79 | Q |
| 4 | Rita Wilden | West Germany | 52.41 | Q |
| 5 | Gladys Taylor | Great Britain | 53.71 | |
| 6 | Marika Lindholm | Finland | 54.07 | |
| 7 | Margaret Stride | Canada | 55.02 | |
| — | Marilyn Neufville | Jamaica | DNS | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Debra Sapenter | United States | 51.23 | Q |
| 2 | Nadezhda Ilyina | Soviet Union | 51.32 | Q |
| 3 | Bethanie Nail | Australia | 51.71 | Q |
| 4 | Christiane Wildschek | Austria | 52.25 | Q |
| 5 | Verona Bernard-Elder | Great Britain | 52.70 | |
| 6 | Rosine Wallez | Belgium | 53.04 | |
| 7 | Silvia Hollmann | West Germany | 53.77 | |
| 8 | Ruth Williams-Simpson | Jamaica | 53.88 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Riitta Salin | Finland | 51.62 | Q |
| 2 | Rosalyn Bryant | United States | 51.74 | Q |
| 3 | Marita Koch | East Germany | 51.87 | Q |
| 4 | Irena Szewińska | Poland | 52.00 | Q |
| 5 | Donna Hartley | Great Britain | 52.29 | |
| 6 | Rita Bottiglieri | Italy | 52.51 | |
| 7 | Regina Berg | Belgium | 53.14 | |
| 8 | Joyce Yakubowich | Canada | 53.14 | |

### Semifinals
#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Irena Szewińska | Poland | 50.48 | Q OR |
| 2 | Ellen Streidt | East Germany | 50.51 | Q |
| 3 | Sheila Ingram | United States | 50.90 | Q |
| 4 | Riitta Salin | Finland | 51.26 | Q |
| 5 | Bethanie Nail | Australia | 51.44 | |
| 6 | Lyudmila Aksyonova | Soviet Union | 51.55 | |
| 7 | Christiane Wildschek | Austria | 52.20 | |
| — | Marita Koch | East Germany | DNS | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rosalyn Bryant | United States | 50.62 | Q |
| 2 | Christina Brehmer | East Germany | 50.86 | Q |
| 3 | Pirjo Häggman | Finland | 51.03 | Q |
| 4 | Debra Sapenter | United States | 51.34 | Q |
| 5 | Nadezhda Ilyina | Soviet Union | 51.42 | |
| 6 | Verna Burnard | Australia | 51.71 | |
| 7 | Rita Wilden | West Germany | 51.82 | |
| 8 | Nataliya Sokolova | Soviet Union | 51.95 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | Irena Szewińska | Poland | 49.28 | WR |
| | Christina Brehmer | East Germany | 50.51 | |
| | Ellen Streidt | East Germany | 50.55 | |
| 4 | Pirjo Häggman | Finland | 50.56 | |
| 5 | Rosalyn Bryant | United States | 50.65 | |
| 6 | Sheila Ingram | United States | 50.90 | |
| 7 | Riitta Salin | Finland | 50.98 | |
| 8 | Debra Sapenter | United States | 51.66 | |