# Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres sprint event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place between August 4 and August 5. Fifty-three athletes from 28 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by 0.2 seconds by Jamaican Arthur Wint coming from almost 10 meters back to catch teammate and world record holder Herb McKenley. This was Jamaica's first Olympic gold medal in their debut participation at the Games, and broke a string of 3 straight American victories in the men's 400 metres.

## Background

This was the eleventh appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Bill Roberts of Great Britain was the only finalist from 1936 to return after the 12-year gap. Herb McKenley of Jamaica was the "heavy favorite," having recently broken the world record. Top challengers included fellow Jamaican Arthur Wint and American Mal Whitfield (fresh off a win in the 800 metres).
In addition to Jamaica winning gold in its first appearance in the event, Bermuda, Ceylon, Colombia, Cuba, Iceland, Iraq, Turkey, and Yugoslavia competed in the 400 metres for the first time. The United States made its eleventh appearance in the event, the only nation to compete in it at every Olympic Games to that point.

## Competition format

The competition retained the basic four-round format from 1920. There were 12 heats in the first round, each with between 3 and 5 athletes. The top two runners in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals. There were 4 quarterfinals of 6 runners each; the top three athletes in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals. The semifinals featured 2 heats of 6 runners each. The top three runners in each semifinal heat advanced, making a six-man final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Herb McKenley (JAM) | 45.9 | Milwaukee, United States | 2 July 1948 |
| Olympic record | Bill Carr (USA) | 46.2 | Los Angeles, United States | 5 August 1932 |

## Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Wednesday, 4 August 1948 | 15:30 17:15 | Round 1 Quarterfinals |
| Thursday, 5 August 1948 | 15:00 16:45 | Semifinals Finals |

## Results
### Round 1

The fastest two runners in each of the twelve heats advanced to the quarterfinals.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jimmy Reardon | Ireland | 48.4 | Q |
| 2 | Marko Račič | Yugoslavia | 50.5 | Q |
| 3 | Chen Yinglang | Republic of China | 50.9 | |
| 4 | Georgios Karageorgos | Greece | 54.5 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Herb McKenley | Jamaica | 48.4 | Q |
| 2 | Rune Larsson | Sweden | 49.2 | Q |
| 3 | Ferenc Bánhalmi | Hungary | 49.6 | |
| 4 | Jaime Aparicio | Colombia | 50.8 | |
| 5 | Guillermo Evans | Argentina | 51.8 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Zvonko Sabolović | Yugoslavia | 49.9 | Q |
| 2 | Kurt Lundquist | Sweden | 50.0 | Q |
| 3 | Antonio Pocovi | Argentina | 50.7 | |
| 4 | Mario Rosas | Colombia | 51.4 | |
| 5 | Labib Hasso | Iraq | 56.8 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | George Rhoden | Jamaica | 48.4 | Q |
| 2 | Dennis Shore | South Africa | 49.0 | Q |
| 3 | Oskar Hardmeier | Switzerland | 49.2 | |
| 4 | Angel García | Cuba | 50.2 | |
| 5 | Bill Ramsay | Australia | 50.3 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jacques Lunis | France | 49.3 | Q |
| 2 | Folke Alnevik | Sweden | 50.2 | Q |
| 3 | Carlos Monges | Mexico | 50.9 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dave Bolen | United States | 50.1 | Q |
| 2 | John Bartram | Australia | 50.8 | Q |
| 3 | Hazzard Dill | Bermuda | 53.0 | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Leslie Lewis | Great Britain | 48.9 | Q |
| 2 | Bjørn Vade | Norway | 49.6 | Q |
| 3 | Ernie McCullough | Canada | 49.9 | |
| 4 | Walter Keller | Switzerland | 50.3 | |
| 5 | Runar Holmberg | Finland | 50.6 | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mal Whitfield | United States | 48.3 | Q |
| 2 | Bill Roberts | Great Britain | 48.9 | Q |
| 3 | Don McFarlane | Canada | 49.5 | |
| 4 | Olavi Talja | Finland | 50.4 | |
| 5 | Max Trepp | Switzerland | 50.9 | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Arthur Wint | Jamaica | 47.7 | Q |
| 2 | Francis Schewetta | France | 48.9 | Q |
| 3 | John De Saram | Ceylon | 51.2 | |
| 4 | Tauno Suvanto | Finland | 51.5 | |
| 5 | Doğan Acarbay | Turkey | 53.0 | |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Morris Curotta | Australia | 49.1 | Q |
| 2 | Rosalvo Ramos | Brazil | 49.2 | Q |
| 3 | Raymond Crapet | France | 49.4 | |
| 4 | Kemal Horulu | Turkey | 51.5 | |

#### Heat 11

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | George Guida | United States | 49.0 | Q |
| 2 | Derek Pugh | Great Britain | 49.3 | Q |
| 3 | Gustavo Ehlers | Chile | 49.5 | |
| 4 | Stefanos Petrakis | Greece | 54.5 | |

#### Heat 12

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Herman Kunnen | Belgium | 50.0 | Q |
| 2 | Bob McFarlane | Canada | 50.6 | Q |
| 3 | Reynir Sigurðsson | Iceland | 51.4 | |
| 4 | Jaime Hitelman | Chile | 51.5 | |
| 5 | Stylianos Stratakos | Greece | 52.8 | |

### Quarterfinals

The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mal Whitfield | United States | 48.0 | Q |
| 2 | George Rhoden | Jamaica | 48.6 | Q |
| 3 | Rosalvo Ramos | Brazil | 48.7 | Q |
| 4 | Leslie Lewis | Great Britain | 49.2 | |
| 5 | Zvonko Sabolović | Yugoslavia | 49.5 | |
| 6 | Folke Alnevik | Sweden | 50.6 | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Arthur Wint | Jamaica | 47.7 | Q |
| 2 | Morris Curotta | Australia | 48.4 | Q |
| 3 | Dennis Shore | South Africa | 48.5 | Q |
| 4 | Bill Roberts | Great Britain | 48.6 | |
| 5 | Bjørn Vade | Norway | 49.7 | |
| — | Herman Kunnen | Belgium | DNS | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Herb McKenley | Jamaica | 48.0 | Q |
| 2 | George Guida | United States | 48.0 | Q |
| 3 | Rune Larsson | Sweden | 48.8 | Q |
| 4 | John Bartram | Australia | 49.9 | |
| 5 | Francis Schewetta | France | 49.9 | |
| 6 | Marko Račič | Yugoslavia | 52.1 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dave Bolen | United States | 48.0 | Q |
| 2 | Jimmy Reardon | Ireland | 48.3 | Q |
| 3 | Bob McFarlane | Canada | 48.4 | Q |
| 4 | Kurt Lundquist | Sweden | 48.4 | |
| 5 | Derek Pugh | Great Britain | 48.8 | |
| 6 | Jacques Lunis | France | 48.9 | |

### Semifinals

The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) | Notes |
| 1 | Arthur Wint | Jamaica | 46.3 | Q |
| 2 | Morris Curotta | Australia | 47.2 | Q |
| 3 | Mal Whitfield | United States | 47.4 | Q |
| 4 | George Rhoden | Jamaica | 47.7 | |
| 5 | Jimmy Reardon | Ireland | 47.8 | |
| — | Rune Larsson | Sweden | DNS | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) | Notes |
| 1 | Herb McKenley | Jamaica | 47.3 | Q |
| 2 | Dave Bolen | United States | 47.9 | Q |
| 3 | George Guida | United States | 48.3 | Q |
| 4 | Dennis Shore | South Africa | 48.8 | |
| 5 | Rosalvo Ramos | Brazil | 49.1 | |
| 6 | Bob McFarlane | Canada | 51.7 | |

### Final

McKenley was known for starting fast and stayed true to form in this race, hitting the halfway mark at 21.6 seconds (a split which would have placed him 6th in the final of the 200 metre event itself). Wint, however, powered through the second half and caught McKenley with 20–30 metres to go. Neither Curotta nor any of the Americans had much chance at winning behind the two Jamaicans.
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) | Notes |
| | 3 | Arthur Wint | Jamaica | 46.2 | =OR |
| | 2 | Herb McKenley | Jamaica | 46.4 | |
| | 4 | Mal Whitfield | United States | 46.9 | |
| 4 | 1 | Dave Bolen | United States | 47.2 | |
| 5 | 5 | Morris Curotta | Australia | 47.9 | |
| 6 | 6 | George Guida | United States | 50.2 | |