page_title: Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres
section_title: Final
hierarchical_section_title: Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres / Results / Final
caption_attribution_description: English: LaShawn Merritt finishing the 400m almost 1 second before Jeremy Wariner (out of the picture), august 21st 2008 at the Bird's nest, Beijing Français&#160;: LaShawn Merritt à l'arrivée du 400m qu'il termine presque une seconde devant Jeremy Wariner le 21 août 2008 au nid d'oiseau, Pékin
context_page_description: The men's 400 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 18–21 August at the Beijing National Stadium. Fifty-five athletes from 40 nations competed.
  The event was won by LaShawn Merritt of the United States, in what would ultimately be the final of seven consecutive American victories stretching from 1984 to 2008; it was the 19th overall title in the event by the United States. Jeremy Wariner took silver to become the fourth man to win two medals in the event, though Merritt kept him from matching Michael Johnson's pair of golds. David Neville's bronze completed the American podium sweep, the second consecutive sweep in the event and the fifth overall.
context_section_description: Wariner slowed after Merritt started pulling away from him in the final straight and it became clear that Wariner could not keep pace with Merritt. This resulted in Merritt winning by 0.99 seconds, officially the largest margin of victory in a 400 metres final since 1896 (1.0 seconds).
caption: LaShawn Merritt won by a margin of almost a second.
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