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Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Dates 18 – 29 August 2004
Medal Events 46
Non-medal Events 2

The Olympics returned to their birthplace in 2004, with the Games awarded to Athina. In addition, the Athens Organizing Committee brought back several historic sites. The shot put for men and women was held at the Ancient Olympic stadium on the Peloponnesus, with spectators sitting on the grass on the side of the hill overlooking the stadium. It was the first known athletic competition there since the Ancient Games ended in 385 C.E. The marathon race for both men and women was held on a course very similar to the one used at the 1896 Olympics. It started in Marathon and ran to Athina, finishing in the Panhellenic Stadium used for the first Modern Olympics. The athletics competition was initially disrupted on the eve of the Olympics when Konstantinos Kedéris, 2000 men’s 200 champion, and Ekaterini Thanou, 2000 women’s 100 silver medalist, were taken to a hospital after a mysterious motorcycle crash, witnessed by nobody. There were claims of missed drug tests, and that they were avoiding the doping controls, and both withdrew from the Olympics.

The two stars of the competition were Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj and Britain’s Kelly Holmes. El Guerrouj finally won the 1,500 metres, which he had been favored to win in 1996 and 2000. For good measure he added a second gold medal in the 5K. Holmes won the 800 and 1,500 double, her first major international victories of any sort. On the roads, Poland’s Robert Korzeniowski won his third consecutive 50 km. walk, by over four minutes, and then called it a career.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
100 metres, Men Olympic 21 – 22 August 2004 82 62
200 metres, Men Olympic 24 – 26 August 2004 54 41
400 metres, Men Olympic 20 – 23 August 2004 62 48
800 metres, Men Olympic 25 – 28 August 2004 72 58
1,500 metres, Men Olympic 20 – 24 August 2004 38 26
5,000 metres, Men Olympic 25 – 28 August 2004 36 22
10,000 metres, Men Olympic 20 August 2004 24 14
Marathon, Men Olympic 29 August 2004 101 59
110 metres Hurdles, Men Olympic 24 – 27 August 2004 47 34
400 metres Hurdles, Men Olympic 23 – 26 August 2004 35 24
3,000 metres Steeplechase, Men Olympic 21 – 24 August 2004 39 25
4 x 100 metres Relay, Men Olympic 27 – 28 August 2004 65 16
4 x 400 metres Relay, Men Olympic 27 – 28 August 2004 68 16
20 kilometres Race Walk, Men Olympic 20 August 2004 48 28
50 kilometres Race Walk, Men Olympic 27 August 2004 54 29
High Jump, Men Olympic 20 – 22 August 2004 38 27
Pole Vault, Men Olympic 25 – 27 August 2004 39 25
Long Jump, Men Olympic 24 – 26 August 2004 40 30
Triple Jump, Men Olympic 20 – 22 August 2004 47 35
Shot Put, Men Olympic 18 August 2004 39 26
Discus Throw, Men Olympic 21 – 23 August 2004 39 26
Hammer Throw, Men Olympic 20 – 22 August 2004 35 24
Javelin Throw, Men Olympic 26 – 28 August 2004 33 23
Decathlon, Men Olympic 23 – 24 August 2004 39 26
100 metres, Women Olympic 20 – 21 August 2004 63 51
200 metres, Women Olympic 23 – 25 August 2004 43 32
400 metres, Women Olympic 21 – 24 August 2004 42 31
800 metres, Women Olympic 20 – 23 August 2004 43 36
1,500 metres, Women Olympic 24 – 28 August 2004 45 27
5,000 metres, Women Olympic 20 – 23 August 2004 41 28
10,000 metres, Women Olympic 27 August 2004 31 20
Marathon, Women Olympic 22 August 2004 82 47
100 metres Hurdles, Women Olympic 22 – 24 August 2004 37 23
400 metres Hurdles, Women Olympic 21 – 25 August 2004 33 25
4 x 100 metres Relay, Women Olympic 26 – 27 August 2004 65 16
4 x 400 metres Relay, Women Olympic 27 – 28 August 2004 71 16
20 kilometres Race Walk, Women Olympic 23 August 2004 57 35
High Jump, Women Olympic 26 – 28 August 2004 34 25
Pole Vault, Women Olympic 21 – 24 August 2004 35 22
Long Jump, Women Olympic 25 – 27 August 2004 39 28
Triple Jump, Women Olympic 21 – 23 August 2004 33 24
Shot Put, Women Olympic 18 August 2004 38 28
Discus Throw, Women Olympic 20 – 21 August 2004 42 27
Hammer Throw, Women Olympic 23 – 25 August 2004 48 27
Javelin Throw, Women Olympic 25 – 27 August 2004 45 31
Heptathlon, Women Olympic 20 – 21 August 2004 34 24
1995 (1079/916) 196 (192/173)

Non-medal events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
1,500 metres Wheelchair, Men Olympic (non-medal) 22 August 2004 8 8
800 metres Wheelchair, Women Olympic (non-medal) 22 August 2004 7 4
16 (8/8) 10 (8/5)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 metres, Men Justin GatlinUSA Francis ObikweluPOR Maurice GreeneUSA
200 metres, Men Shawn CrawfordUSA Bernard Williams, IIIUSA Justin GatlinUSA
400 metres, Men Jeremy WarinerUSA Otis HarrisUSA Derrick BrewUSA
800 metres, Men Yury BorzakovskyRUS Mbulaeni MulaudziRSA Wilson KipketerDEN
1,500 metres, Men Hicham El GuerroujMAR Bernard LagatKEN Rui SilvaPOR
5,000 metres, Men Hicham El GuerroujMAR Kenenisa BekeleETH Eliud KipchogeKEN
10,000 metres, Men Kenenisa BekeleETH Sileshi SihineETH Zersenay TadeseERI
Marathon, Men Stefano BaldiniITA Meb KeflezighiUSA Vanderlei de LimaBRA
110 metres Hurdles, Men Liu XiangCHN Terrence TrammellUSA Anier GarcíaCUB
400 metres Hurdles, Men Félix SánchezDOM Danny McFarlaneJAM Naman KeïtaFRA
3,000 metres Steeplechase, Men Ezekiel KemboiKEN Brimin KiprutoKEN Paul Kipsiele KoechKEN
4 × 100 metres Relay, Men Great BritainGBR United StatesUSA NigeriaNGR
4 × 400 metres Relay, Men United StatesUSA AustraliaAUS NigeriaNGR
20 kilometres Race Walk, Men Ivano BrugnettiITA Francisco Javier FernándezESP Nathan DeakesAUS
50 kilometres Race Walk, Men Robert KorzeniowskiPOL Denis NizhegorodovRUS Aleksey VoyevodinRUS
High Jump, Men Stefan HolmSWE Matt HemingwayUSA Jaroslav BábaCZE
Pole Vault, Men Tim MackUSA Toby StevensonUSA Giuseppe GibiliscoITA
Long Jump, Men Dwight PhillipsUSA John MoffittUSA Joan Lino MartínezESP
Triple Jump, Men Christian OlssonSWE Marian OpreaROU Daniil BurkenyaRUS
Shot Put, Men Adam NelsonUSA Joachim OlsenDEN Manuel MartínezESP
Discus Throw, Men Virgilijus AleknaLTU Zoltán KővágóHUN Aleksander TammertEST
Hammer Throw, Men Koji MurofushiJPN —— ——
Javelin Throw, Men Andreas ThorkildsenNOR Vadims VasiļevskisLAT Sergey MakarovRUS
Decathlon, Men Roman ŠebrleCZE Bryan ClayUSA Dmitry KarpovKAZ
100 metres, Women Yuliya NestsiarenkaBLR Lauryn WilliamsUSA Veronica CampbellJAM
200 metres, Women Veronica CampbellJAM Allyson FelixUSA Debbie FergusonBAH
400 metres, Women Tonique Williams-DarlingBAH Ana GuevaraMEX Nataliya AntyukhRUS
800 metres, Women Kelly HolmesGBR Hasna BenhassiMAR Jolanda ČeplakSLO
1,500 metres, Women Kelly HolmesGBR Tatyana TomashovaRUS Maria CioncanROU
5,000 metres, Women Meseret DefarETH Isabella OchichiKEN Tirunesh DibabaETH
10,000 metres, Women Xing HuinaCHN Ejegayehu DibabaETH Derartu TuluETH
Marathon, Women Mizuki NoguchiJPN Catherine NderebaKEN Deena KastorUSA
100 metres Hurdles, Women Joanna HayesUSA Olena Ovcharova-KrasovskaUKR Melissa MorrisonUSA
400 metres Hurdles, Women Fani ChalkiaGRE Ionela Târlea-ManolacheROU Tetiana Tereshchuk-AntypovaUKR
4 × 100 metres Relay, Women JamaicaJAM Russian FederationRUS FranceFRA
4 × 400 metres Relay, Women United StatesUSA Russian FederationRUS JamaicaJAM
20 kilometres Race Walk, Women Athanasia TsoumelekaGRE Olimpiada IvanovaRUS Jane SavilleAUS
High Jump, Women Yelena SlesarenkoRUS Hestrie Storbeck-CloeteRSA Vita StopinaUKR
Pole Vault, Women Yelena IsinbayevaRUS Svetlana FeofanovaRUS Anna RogowskaPOL
Long Jump, Women Tatyana LebedevaRUS Irina SimaginaRUS Tatyana KotovaRUS
Triple Jump, Women Françoise MbangoCMR Pigi DevetziGRE Tatyana LebedevaRUS
Shot Put, Women Yumileidi CumbáCUB Nadine KleinertGER ——
Discus Throw, Women Nataliya SadovaRUS Anastasia KelesidouGRE Věra Pospíšilová-CechlováCZE
Hammer Throw, Women Olga KuzenkovaRUS Yipsi MorenoCUB Yunaika CrawfordCUB
Javelin Throw, Women Osleidys MenéndezCUB Steffi NeriusGER Mirela ManianiGRE
Heptathlon, Women Carolina KlüftSWE Austra SkujytėLTU Kelly SothertonGBR

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
United States USA 9 11 5 25
Russian Federation RUS 6 7 6 19
Great Britain GBR 3 0 1 4
Sweden SWE 3 0 0 3
Ethiopia ETH 2 3 2 7
Greece GRE 2 2 1 5
Cuba CUB 2 1 2 5
Jamaica JAM 2 1 2 5
Morocco MAR 2 1 0 3
Italy ITA 2 0 1 3
Japan JPN 2 0 0 2
People's Republic of China CHN 2 0 0 2
Kenya KEN 1 4 2 7
Lithuania LTU 1 1 0 2
Czechia CZE 1 0 2 3
Poland POL 1 0 1 2
The Bahamas BAH 1 0 1 2
Belarus BLR 1 0 0 1
Cameroon CMR 1 0 0 1
Dominican Republic DOM 1 0 0 1
Norway NOR 1 0 0 1
Romania ROU 0 2 1 3
Germany GER 0 2 0 2
South Africa RSA 0 2 0 2
Australia AUS 0 1 2 3
Spain ESP 0 1 2 3
Ukraine UKR 0 1 2 3
Denmark DEN 0 1 1 2
Portugal POR 0 1 1 2
Hungary HUN 0 1 0 1
Latvia LAT 0 1 0 1
Mexico MEX 0 1 0 1
France FRA 0 0 2 2
Nigeria NGR 0 0 2 2
Brazil BRA 0 0 1 1
Eritrea ERI 0 0 1 1
Estonia EST 0 0 1 1
Kazakhstan KAZ 0 0 1 1
Slovenia SLO 0 0 1 1