Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Dates 3 – 12 August 2012
Medal Events 47

With the exception of the marathons and the road walks, track & field athletics took place at the Olympic Stadium within the Olympic Park. There were no changes to the program since the 2008 Olympic Games, with men and women competing in almost an identical program, the only differences being that men contest two walks and women only one, the high hurdles are different distances – 100 metres for women and 110 metres for men, and women compete in the multi-event heptathlon while men compete in the decathlon.

The highlight occurred on the first Saturday night of athletics competition when British fans rocked as their athletes won three gold medals within 45 minutes. Jessica Ennis first won the heptathlon, completing the event with her 800 metre run, followed by an upset victory by Greg Rutherford in the men’s long jump. The evening finished with Mo Farah winning the 10,000 metres followed by the deafening roar of the British crowd.

There were three world records set on what was considered a very fast track. David Rudisha won the 800 metres, becoming the first runner to complete the distance under 1:41. Both 4x100 relay world records were ripped asunder, by the Jamaican men and the American women. Usain Bolt again starred, repeating his 3-gold medals from Beijing in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4x100 relay (although the 2008 relay gold would later be voided because of a doping disqualification to Nesta Carter). The only other individual double gold medalist was Farah, who on the final night of athletics competition, won the 5,000 metres, again before an adoring crowd.

In 2015 the IOC began re-testing samples from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, using newer, more advanced testing techniques, in an effort to find those who had used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), but in whom it could not be detected at the time of those Olympics. The 2012 athletics events were markedly affected, causing many of the results to be changed. In all, there were 69 PED disqualifications from the 2012 athletics events, with 6 gold medalists and 14 medalists losing their medals.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
100 metres, Men Olympic 4 – 5 August 2012 74 61
200 metres, Men Olympic 7 – 9 August 2012 54 40
400 metres, Men Olympic 4 – 6 August 2012 49 38
800 metres, Men Olympic 6 – 9 August 2012 55 44
1,500 metres, Men Olympic 3 – 7 August 2012 43 29
5,000 metres, Men Olympic 8 – 11 August 2012 42 26
10,000 metres, Men Olympic 4 August 2012 29 18
Marathon, Men Olympic 12 August 2012 105 67
110 metres Hurdles, Men Olympic 7 – 8 August 2012 53 33
400 metres Hurdles, Men Olympic 3 – 6 August 2012 49 33
3,000 metres Steeplechase, Men Olympic 3 – 5 August 2012 39 27
4 x 100 metres Relay, Men Olympic 10 – 11 August 2012 67 16
4 x 400 metres Relay, Men Olympic 9 – 10 August 2012 70 16
20 kilometres Race Walk, Men Olympic 4 August 2012 56 34
50 kilometres Race Walk, Men Olympic 11 August 2012 63 35
High Jump, Men Olympic 5 – 7 August 2012 35 27
Pole Vault, Men Olympic 8 – 10 August 2012 32 23
Long Jump, Men Olympic 3 – 4 August 2012 42 30
Triple Jump, Men Olympic 7 – 9 August 2012 27 21
Shot Put, Men Olympic 3 August 2012 40 34
Discus Throw, Men Olympic 6 – 7 August 2012 41 24
Hammer Throw, Men Olympic 3 – 5 August 2012 41 32
Javelin Throw, Men Olympic 8 – 11 August 2012 44 31
Decathlon, Men Olympic 8 – 9 August 2012 31 25
100 metres, Women Olympic 3 – 4 August 2012 79 65
200 metres, Women Olympic 6 – 8 August 2012 52 37
400 metres, Women Olympic 3 – 5 August 2012 48 38
800 metres, Women Olympic 8 – 11 August 2012 41 32
1,500 metres, Women Olympic 6 – 10 August 2012 45 25
5,000 metres, Women Olympic 7 – 10 August 2012 35 21
10,000 metres, Women Olympic 3 August 2012 22 13
Marathon, Women Olympic 5 August 2012 118 67
100 metres Hurdles, Women Olympic 6 – 7 August 2012 48 35
400 metres Hurdles, Women Olympic 5 – 8 August 2012 43 34
3,000 metres Steeplechase, Women Olympic 4 – 6 August 2012 44 26
4 x 100 metres Relay, Women Olympic 9 – 10 August 2012 69 16
4 x 400 metres Relay, Women Olympic 10 – 11 August 2012 71 16
20 kilometres Race Walk, Women Olympic 11 August 2012 61 33
High Jump, Women Olympic 9 – 11 August 2012 34 27
Pole Vault, Women Olympic 4 – 6 August 2012 39 25
Long Jump, Women Olympic 7 – 8 August 2012 30 22
Triple Jump, Women Olympic 3 – 5 August 2012 35 24
Shot Put, Women Olympic 6 August 2012 32 21
Discus Throw, Women Olympic 3 – 4 August 2012 35 23
Hammer Throw, Women Olympic 8 – 10 August 2012 37 25
Javelin Throw, Women Olympic 7 – 9 August 2012 41 28
Heptathlon, Women Olympic 3 – 4 August 2012 38 24
2079 (1088/991) 201 (197/189)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 metres, Men Usain BoltJAM Yohan BlakeJAM Justin GatlinUSA
200 metres, Men Usain BoltJAM Yohan BlakeJAM Warren WeirJAM
400 metres, Men Kirani JamesGRN Luguelín SantosDOM Lalonde GordonTTO
800 metres, Men David RudishaKEN Nijel AmosBOT Timothy KitumKEN
1,500 metres, Men Taoufik MakhloufiALG Leo ManzanoUSA Abdalaati IguiderMAR
5,000 metres, Men Mo FarahGBR Dejen GebremeskelETH Thomas LongosiwaKEN
10,000 metres, Men Mo FarahGBR Galen RuppUSA Tariku BekeleETH
Marathon, Men Stephen KiprotichUGA Abel KiruiKEN Wilson Kipsang KiprotichKEN
110 metres Hurdles, Men Aries MerrittUSA Jason RichardsonUSA Hansle ParchmentJAM
400 metres Hurdles, Men Félix SánchezDOM Michael TinsleyUSA Javier CulsonPUR
3,000 metres Steeplechase, Men Ezekiel KemboiKEN Mahiedine Mekhissi-BenabbadFRA Abel MutaiKEN
4 × 100 metres Relay, Men JamaicaJAM Trinidad and TobagoTTO FranceFRA
4 × 400 metres Relay, Men The BahamasBAH United StatesUSA Trinidad and TobagoTTO
20 kilometres Race Walk, Men Chen DingCHN Érick BarrondoGUA Wang ZhenCHN
50 kilometres Race Walk, Men Jared TallentAUS Si TianfengCHN Robbie HeffernanIRL
High Jump, Men Erik KynardUSA Derek Drouin
Robbie Grabarz
Mutaz Essa Barshim
CAN
GBR
QAT
Pole Vault, Men Renaud LavillenieFRA Björn OttoGER Raphael HolzdeppeGER
Long Jump, Men Greg RutherfordGBR Mitch WattAUS Will ClayeUSA
Triple Jump, Men Christian TaylorUSA Will ClayeUSA Fabrizio DonatoITA
Shot Put, Men Tomasz MajewskiPOL David StorlGER Reese HoffaUSA
Discus Throw, Men Robert HartingGER Ehsan HaddadiIRI Gerd KanterEST
Hammer Throw, Men Krisztián ParsHUN Primož KozmusSLO Koji MurofushiJPN
Javelin Throw, Men Keshorn WalcottTTO Antti RuuskanenFIN Vítězslav VeselýCZE
Decathlon, Men Ashton EatonUSA Trey HardeeUSA Leonel SuárezCUB
100 metres, Women Shelly-Ann Fraser-PryceJAM Carmelita JeterUSA Veronica Campbell-BrownJAM
200 metres, Women Allyson FelixUSA Shelly-Ann Fraser-PryceJAM Carmelita JeterUSA
400 metres, Women Sanya Richards-RossUSA Christine OhuruoguGBR DeeDee TrotterUSA
800 metres, Women Caster SemenyaRSA Yekaterina PoistogovaRUS Pamela JelimoKEN
1,500 metres, Women Maryam JamalBRN Tatyana TomashovaRUS Abeba AregawiETH
5,000 metres, Women Meseret DefarETH Vivian CheruiyotKEN Tirunesh DibabaETH
10,000 metres, Women Tirunesh DibabaETH Sally KipyegoKEN Vivian CheruiyotKEN
Marathon, Women Tiki GelanaETH Priscah JeptooKEN Tatyana Petrova-ArkhipovaRUS
100 metres Hurdles, Women Sally PearsonAUS Dawn HarperUSA Kellie WellsUSA
400 metres Hurdles, Women Lashinda DemusUSA Zuzana HejnováCZE Kaliese SpencerJAM
3,000 metres Steeplechase, Women Habiba GhribiTUN Sofia AssefaETH Milcah Chemos CheywaKEN
4 × 100 metres Relay, Women United StatesUSA JamaicaJAM UkraineUKR
4 × 400 metres Relay, Women United StatesUSA JamaicaJAM UkraineUKR
20 kilometres Race Walk, Women Qieyang ShijieCHN Liu HongCHN Lu XiuzhiCHN
High Jump, Women Anna ChicherovaRUS Brigetta BarrettUSA Ruth BeitíaESP
Pole Vault, Women Jenn SuhrUSA Yarisley SilvaCUB Yelena IsinbayevaRUS
Long Jump, Women Brittney ReeseUSA Yelena SokolovaRUS Janay DeLoachUSA
Triple Jump, Women Olga RypakovaKAZ Caterine IbargüenCOL Olha SaladukhaUKR
Shot Put, Women Valerie AdamsNZL Gong LijiaoCHN Li LingCHN
Discus Throw, Women Sandra PerkovićCRO Li YanfengCHN Yarelis BarriosCUB
Hammer Throw, Women Anita WłodarczykPOL Betty HeidlerGER Zhang WenxiuCHN
Javelin Throw, Women Barbora ŠpotákováCZE Christina ObergföllGER Linda StahlGER
Heptathlon, Women Jessica EnnisGBR Lilli SchwarzkopfGER Austra SkujytėLTU

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
United States USA 11 10 7 28
Jamaica JAM 4 5 4 13
Great Britain GBR 4 2 0 6
Ethiopia ETH 3 2 3 8
Kenya KEN 2 4 7 13
People's Republic of China CHN 2 4 4 10
Australia AUS 2 1 0 3
Poland POL 2 0 0 2
Germany GER 1 5 2 8
Russian Federation RUS 1 3 2 6
Trinidad and Tobago TTO 1 1 2 4
Czechia CZE 1 1 1 3
France FRA 1 1 1 3
Dominican Republic DOM 1 1 0 2
Algeria ALG 1 0 0 1
Bahrain BRN 1 0 0 1
Croatia CRO 1 0 0 1
Grenada GRN 1 0 0 1
Hungary HUN 1 0 0 1
Kazakhstan KAZ 1 0 0 1
New Zealand NZL 1 0 0 1
South Africa RSA 1 0 0 1
The Bahamas BAH 1 0 0 1
Tunisia TUN 1 0 0 1
Uganda UGA 1 0 0 1
Cuba CUB 0 1 2 3
Botswana BOT 0 1 0 1
Canada CAN 0 1 0 1
Colombia COL 0 1 0 1
Finland FIN 0 1 0 1
Guatemala GUA 0 1 0 1
Islamic Republic of Iran IRI 0 1 0 1
Qatar QAT 0 1 0 1
Slovenia SLO 0 1 0 1
Ukraine UKR 0 0 3 3
Estonia EST 0 0 1 1
Ireland IRL 0 0 1 1
Italy ITA 0 0 1 1
Japan JPN 0 0 1 1
Lithuania LTU 0 0 1 1
Morocco MAR 0 0 1 1
Puerto Rico PUR 0 0 1 1
Spain ESP 0 0 1 1