# Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres

The Women's 400 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 16–19 August at the Beijing National Stadium. The winning margin was 0.07 seconds.
The qualifying standards were 51.55 s (A standard) and 52.35 s (B standard).
Favourites for the event included Sanya Richards-Ross and the reigning world champion, Christine Ohuruogu. In the final, Richards-Ross made a rapid start and quickly took the lead, while Ohuruogu ran a more even-paced race, but was well down the field entering the final straight. However, in the last 100 metres Richard-Ross, clearly tired from her earlier effort, began to tie up badly, while Ohuruogu began to surge through the field. At the line, Great Britain's Christine Ohuruogu won in 49.62 seconds to add the Olympic title to her World title, just pipping Shericka Williams by 0.07 seconds to take gold. Richards-Ross faded to third, and bronze, in 49.93.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows:
| World record | Marita Koch (GDR) | 47.60 s | Canberra, Australia | 6 October 1985 |
| Olympic record | Marie-José Pérec (FRA) | 48.25 s | Atlanta, United States | 29 July 1996 |
| World Leading | Amantle Montsho (BOT) | 49.83 s | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | 2 May 2008 |
No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

## Results
### Round 1

Qualification: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) advance to the Semifinals.
| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Sanya Richards | United States | 50.54 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Shericka Williams | Jamaica | 50.57 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | Tatiana Firova | Russia | 50.59 | DSQ |
| 4 | 2 | Libania Grenot Martinez | Italy | 50.87 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 2 | Amantle Montsho | Botswana | 50.91 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | Aliann Pompey | Guyana | 50.99 | Q, SB |
| 7 | 1 | Rosemarie Whyte | Jamaica | 51.00 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | Christine Ohuruogu | Great Britain | 51.00 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | Yulia Gushchina | Russia | 51.18 | Q |
| 10 | 1 | Christine Amertil | Bahamas | 51.25 | Q, SB |
| 11 | 3 | Anastasia Kapachinskaya | Russia | 51.32 | DSQ |
| 12 | 1 | Ajoke Odumosu | Nigeria | 51.39 | Q, PB |
| 13 | 1 | DeeDee Trotter | United States | 51.41 | q |
| 14 | 5 | Folashade Abugan | Nigeria | 51.45 | Q |
| 15 | 3 | Mary Wineberg | United States | 51.46 | Q |
| 16 | 6 | Novlene Williams | Jamaica | 51.52 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | Carline Muir | Canada | 51.55 | Q, PB |
| 18 | 2 | Indira Terrero | Cuba | 51.56 | q |
| 19 | 7 | Racheal Nachula | Zambia | 50.62 | Q |
| 20 | 6 | Nicola Sanders | Great Britain | 51.81 | Q |
| 21 | 3 | Lee McConnell | Great Britain | 51.87 | Q |
| 22 | 4 | Gabriela Medina | Mexico | 51.96 | Q |
| 23 | 7 | Joy Amechi Eze | Nigeria | 51.97 | q |
| 24 | 2 | Makelesi Bulikiobo | Fiji | 52.24 | SB |
| 25 | 4 | Tamsyn Lewis | Australia | 52.38 | |
| 26 | 7 | Alissa Kallinikou | Cyprus | 52.40 | |
| 27 | 1 | Tiandra Ponteen | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 52.41 | |
| 28 | 5 | Asami Tanno | Japan | 52.60 | |
| 29 | 5 | Dimitra Ntova | Greece | 52.69 | |
| 30 | 6 | Nawal El Jack | Sudan | 52.77 | Q |
| 31 | 7 | Monika Bejnar | Poland | 52.80 | |
| 32 | 6 | Kineke Alexander | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 52.87 | |
| 33 | 2 | Mandeep Kaur | India | 52.88 | |
| 33 | 6 | Trish Bartholomew | Grenada | 52.88 | |
| 35 | 3 | Barbara Petráhn | Hungary | 53.06 | |
| 36 | 3 | Carol Rodriguez | Puerto Rico | 53.08 | |
| 37 | 1 | Antonina Yefremova | Ukraine | 53.22 | |
| 38 | 4 | Maria Laura Almirao | Brazil | 53.26 | |
| 39 | 4 | Joanne Cuddihy | Ireland | 53.32 | |
| 40 | 5 | Olga Tereshkova | Kazakhstan | 53.36 | |
| 41 | 3 | Ginou Etienne | Haiti | 53.94 | |
| 42 | 5 | Kia Davis | Liberia | 53.99 | |
| 43 | 6 | Tsholofelo Thipe | South Africa | 54.11 | |
| 44 | 2 | Justine Bayigga | Uganda | 54.15 | |
| 45 | 7 | Sandrine Thiébaud-Kangni | Togo | 54.16 | |
| 46 | 6 | Klodiana Shala | Albania | 54.84 | |
| 47 | 6 | Munguntuya Batgerel | Mongolia | 58.14 | |
| 48 | 7 | Temalangeni Dlamini | Swaziland | 59.91 | |
| 49 | 3 | Rachidatou Seini Maikido | Niger | 1:03.19 | NR |
| 50 | 4 | Ghada Ali | Libya | 1:06.19 | |

### Semifinals

Qualification: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest {q} advance to the Final.
| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Sanya Richards | United States | 49.90 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Christine Ohuruogu | Great Britain | 50.14 | Q, SB |
| 3 | 1 | Shericka Williams | Jamaica | 50.28 | Q, SB |
| 4 | 2 | Anastasia Kapachinskaya | Russia | 50.30 | DSQ |
| 5 | 1 | Tatiana Firova | Russia | 50.31 | DSQ |
| 6 | 3 | Yulia Gushchina | Russia | 50.48 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | Amantle Montsho | Botswana | 50.54 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | Rosemarie Whyte | Jamaica | 50.63 | q |
| 9 | 3 | Nicola Sanders | Great Britain | 50.71 | SB |
| 10 | 3 | Libania Grenot Martinez | Italy | 50.83 | NR |
| 11 | 1 | Aliann Pompey | Guyana | 50.93 | =NR |
| 12 | 2 | Novlene Williams | Jamaica | 51.06 | |
| 13 | 1 | Mary Wineberg | United States | 51.13 | |
| 14 | 3 | Folashade Abugan | Nigeria | 51.30 | |
| 15 | 2 | Christine Amertil | Bahamas | 51.51 | |
| 16 | 1 | Indira Terrero | Cuba | 51.80 | |
| 17 | 2 | Joy Amechi Eze | Nigeria | 51.87 | |
| 17 | 3 | DeeDee Trotter | United States | 51.87 | |
| 19 | 2 | Lee McConnell | Great Britain | 52.11 | |
| 20 | 2 | Carline Muir | Canada | 52.37 | |
| 21 | 1 | Ajoke Odumosu | Nigeria | 52.45 | |
| 22 | 2 | Racheal Nachula | Zambia | 52.67 | |
| 23 | 1 | Gabriela Medina | Mexico | 52.97 | |
| 24 | 3 | Nawal El Jack | Sudan | 54.18 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Christine Ohuruogu | Great Britain | 49.62 | WL |
| | 6 | Shericka Williams | Jamaica | 49.69 | PB |
| | 7 | Sanya Richards | United States | 49.93 | |
| 4 | 5 | Yulia Gushchina | Russia | 50.01 | PB |
| 5 | 2 | Rosemarie Whyte | Jamaica | 50.68 | |
| 6 | 8 | Amantle Montsho | Botswana | 51.18 | |
| DSQ | 9 | Anastasia Kapachinskaya | Russia | 50.03 | PB |
| DSQ | 3 | Tatiana Firova | Russia | 50.11 | SB |