# Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres hurdles

These are the official results of the Women's 400m Hurdles at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. There were 30 competitors.

## Results
### Heats

Qualification: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) qualified to the semifinals.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Deon Hemmings | Jamaica | 54.70 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Guðrún Arnardóttir | Iceland | 54.88 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Heike Meissner | Germany | 55.05 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Susan Smith | Ireland | 55.22 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Tonja Buford-Bailey | United States | 55.23 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | Sally Gunnell | Great Britain | 55.29 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | Silvia Rieger | Germany | 55.33 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | Sandra Farmer-Patrick | United States | 55.55 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | Debbie Parris | Jamaica | 55.64 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | Rosey Edeh | Canada | 55.64 | q |
| 11 | 1 | Michèle Schenk | Switzerland | 55.70 | q |
| 12 | 1 | Tatyana Ledovskaya | Belarus | 55.82 | q |
| 13 | 3 | Kim Batten | United States | 54.92 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | Ionela Târlea | Romania | 55.42 | q |
| 15 | 3 | Tetyana Tereshchuk | Ukraine | 55.82 | Q |
| 16 | 3 | Ann Mercken | Belgium | 55.88 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | Natalya Torshina | Kazakhstan | 55.94 | |
| 18 | 4 | Lana Jēkabsone | Latvia | 56.18 | |
| 19 | 3 | Anna Knoroz | Russia | 56.21 | |
| 20 | 3 | Catherine Scott-Pomales | Jamaica | 56.21 | |
| 21 | 2 | Martina Stoop | Switzerland | 56.32 | |
| 22 | 2 | Miriam Alonso | Spain | 56.53 | |
| 23 | 2 | Lade Akinremi | Nigeria | 56.83 | |
| 24 | 4 | Nelli Voronkova | Belarus | 56.97 | |
| 25 | 3 | Karen van der Veen | South Africa | 57.00 | |
| 26 | 1 | Virna De Angeli | Italy | 57.12 | |
| 27 | 3 | Tanya Kurochkina | Belarus | 57.28 | |
| 28 | 4 | Eva Paniagua | Spain | 58.10 | |
| 29 | 1 | Mary-Estelle Kapalu | Vanuatu | 58.68 | |
| 30 | 1 | Hsu Pei-chin | Chinese Taipei | 58.80 | |

### Semifinals

Qualification: First 4 in each heat (Q) qualified directly to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | 3 | Deon Hemmings | Jamaica | 52.99 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | 6 | Tonja Buford-Bailey | United States | 53.38 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | 6 | Kim Batten | United States | 53.65 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | 4 | Heike Meissner | Germany | 54.27 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | 7 | Silvia Rieger | Germany | 54.27 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | 2 | Ionela Târlea | Romania | 54.41 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | 2 | Rosey Edeh | Canada | 54.49 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | 1 | Debbie Parris | Jamaica | 54.72 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 5 | Sandra Farmer-Patrick | United States | 54.73 | |
| 10 | 2 | 4 | Guðrún Arnardóttir | Iceland | 54.81 | |
| 11 | 1 | 8 | Susan Smith | Ireland | 54.93 | |
| 12 | 1 | 1 | Ann Mercken | Belgium | 54.95 | |
| 13 | 1 | 7 | Tatyana Ledovskaya | Belarus | 54.99 | |
| 41 | 1 | 5 | Tetyana Tereshchuk | Ukraine | 55.34 | |
| 15 | 2 | 8 | Michèle Schenk | Switzerland | 55.96 | |
| | 2 | 3 | Sally Gunnell | Great Britain | DNF | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Deon Hemmings | Jamaica | 52.82 | OR |
| | 2 | Kim Batten | United States | 53.08 | |
| | 4 | Tonja Buford-Bailey | United States | 53.22 | |
| 4 | 2 | Debbie Parris | Jamaica | 53.97 | |
| 5 | 1 | Heike Meissner | Germany | 54.03 | |
| 6 | 7 | Rosey Edeh | Canada | 54.39 | |
| 7 | 8 | Ionela Târlea | Romania | 54.40 | |
| 8 | 3 | Silvia Rieger | Germany | 54.57 | |