Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics

At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, 43 events in athletics were contested, 24 events by men and 19 by women. The competition ran from July 31, 1992 to August 9, 1992. Fourteen world record-holders (eight men and six women) were among the contenders. There were also a good thirty former Olympic champions competing, and a total number of 1725 athletes from 156 countries.

Of the 39 current individual world champions, only three won the gold in their events, and they were three women: Marie-José Pérec of France in the 400 m, Heike Henkel of Germany in the high jump and Hassiba Boulmerka of Algeria in the 1500 m. Three of the "unquestioned" favourites failed: the Ukrainian Sergey Bubka (EUN) did not make a valid vault, Michael Johnson of the USA was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 200 m and Noureddine Morceli of Algeria came seventh in the final of the 1500 m.

A total number of three world records were set in the competition. On August 6 in the 400 m hurdles, Kevin Young (46.78 s) shattereda legendary barrier, the 47 seconds, which had stood up even to the finest specialist of all time, Edwin Moses, since 1983, with47.02 s. On August 8, within the space of about two hours, the other records were broken, both in the relays. In the 4x100 m, the US team of Michael Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell and Carl Lewis, with a time of 37.40 s, knocked ten hundredths off the previous best, run in the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Tokyo by the same team, except for the first (Cason instead of Marsh). In the 4x400 m, Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Michael Johnson and Steve Lewis ran 2 min 55.74 s.

Medal summary

Men's events

ee also

*1992 in athletics (track and field)

References

* [http://www.athletics.com.au/history/international/int118.htm Athletics Australia]