Men's 400 metres at the Games of the VII Olympiad
Venue	Olympisch Stadion
Dates	August 19–20
Competitors	37 from 16 nations
Medalists
Bevil Rudd   South Africa   Guy Butler   Great Britain   Nils Engdahl   Sweden
«1912	1924»

Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men
200 m		men
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10000 m		men
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men
4×400 m relay		men
3000 m team race		men
3 km walk		men
10 km walk		men
Road events
Marathon	men
Field events
Long jump	men
Triple jump	men
High jump	men
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men
Discus throw	men
Hammer throw	men
Javelin throw	men
56 lb weight throw	men
Combined events
Pentathlon	men
Decathlon	men
Cross-country events
Individual	men
Team	men

The men's 400 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Thursday, August 19, 1920 and on Friday, August 20, 1920.

37 runners from 16 nations competed.

[edit] Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World Record	47.4(*)	Ted Meredith	Cambridge, MA (USA)	May 27, 1916
Olympic Record	48.2	Charles Reidpath	Stockholm (SWE)	July 13, 1912

(*) 440 yards (= 402.34 m)

[edit] Results

[edit] Heats

Heat 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Robert Lindsay (GBR)	52.0	Q
2	Clarence Oldfield (RSA)	52.2	Q
3	Tolly Bolin (SWE)	52.6

Heat 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Gaston Féry (FRA)	51.1	Q
2	John Ainsworth-Davis (GBR)	51.3	Q
3	Karel Frankenstein (TCH)	51.8
4	Frank Irvine (RSA)

Heat 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Frank Shea (USA)	50.8	Q
2	Henry Dafel (RSA)	51.2	Q
3	Sven Krokström (SWE)	51.6

Heat 4

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Ted Meredith (USA)	51.6	Q
2	Georges André (FRA)	52.3	Q
3	Giuseppe Bernardoni (ITA)	52.8

Heat 5

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Bevil Rudd (RSA)	50.6	Q
2	Erik Wilén (FIN)	51.1	Q
3	Reinhold Saulmann (EST)	51.6
4	Giovanni Tosi (ITA)	51.8

Heat 6

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Robert Emery (USA)	52.6	Q
2	Guy Butler (GBR)	53.2	Q
3	Karel Přibyl (TCH)	54.0
4	Jules Migeot (BEL)	55.1

Heat 7

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	George Schiller (USA)	50.4	Q
2	Nils Engdahl (SWE)	50.6	Q
3	Maurice Delvart (FRA)	50.9
4	Einar Mangset (NOR)	51.3

Heat 8

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Eric Sundblad (SWE)	52.0	Q
2	Hec Phillips (CAN)	52.3	Q
3	Agide Simonazzi (ITA)	53.0
4	Purma Bannerjee (IND)	53.1

Heat 9

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Omer Corteyn (BEL)	52.2	Q
2	Hedges Worthington-Eyre (GBR)	52.5	Q
3	Jean Proess (LUX)	52.6
4	José García Lorenzana (ESP)	52.8

Heat 10

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	François Morren (BEL)	51.6	Q
2	Miguel García Onsalo (ESP)	52.0	Q
3	Eugène Bayon (FRA)	52.4
4	Ahmed Khairy (EGY)

[edit] Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Nils Engdahl (SWE)	50.4	Q
2	John Ainsworth-Davis (GBR)	50.7	Q
3	Robert Emery (USA)	50.7	Q
4	François Morren (BEL)	50.8
5	Clarence Oldfield (RSA)	51.1

Quarterfinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Gaston Féry (FRA)	50.6	Q
2	Guy Butler (GBR)	50.7	Q
3	Ted Meredith (USA)	50.8	Q
4	Erik Wilén (FIN)	51.1
5	Hec Phillips (CAN)	51.5

Quarterfinal 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Henry Dafel (RSA)	51.0	Q
2	George Schiller (USA)	51.3	Q
3	Eric Sundblad (SWE)	51.4	Q
4	Robert Lindsay (GBR)	51.7
5	Omer Corteyn (BEL)	52.1

Quarterfinal 4

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Frank Shea (USA)	51.0	Q
2	Bevil Rudd (RSA)	51.2	Q
3	Georges André (FRA)	51.3	Q
4	Miguel García Onsalo (ESP)	52.6
5	Hedges Worthington-Eyre (GBR)	52.7

[edit] Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Nils Engdahl (SWE)	49.6	Q
2	Bevil Rudd (RSA)	49.7	Q
3	John Ainsworth-Davis (GBR)	49.9	Q
4	Robert Emery (USA)
5	George Schiller (USA)
6	Gaston Féry (FRA)

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Frank Shea (USA)	50.0	Q
2	Guy Butler (GBR)	50.2	Q
3	Henry Dafel (RSA)	50.4	Q
4	Ted Meredith (USA)	50.4
5	Georges André (FRA)	50.5
6	Eric Sundblad (SWE)	52.0

[edit] Final

Place	Athlete	Time
1	Bevil Rudd (RSA)	49.6
2	Guy Butler (GBR)	49.9
3	Nils Engdahl (SWE)	49.9
4	Frank Shea (USA)	49.9
5	John Ainsworth-Davis (GBR)	50.0
6	Henry Dafel (RSA)	50.1

[edit] References

• www.sports-reference.com
• Belgium Olympic Committee (1957). Olympic Games Antwerp 1920: Official Report.  (French)
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich". http://olympic.w.interia.pl/. Retrieved 11 August 2007.  (Polish)