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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics were held during the last ten days of the games, from August 15 to August 24, 2008, at the Beijing National Stadium. The Olympic sport of athletics is split into four distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking events.

Both men and women had very similar schedules of events. Men competed in 24 events and women in 23, as their schedule lacked the 50 km race walk. In addition, both the men's 110 m hurdles and decathlon are reflected in the women's schedule by the 100 m hurdles and heptathlon, respectively.

The Olympic record was broken in 17 returning events. In five events, including the inaugural women's 3000 m steeplechase, the world record was broken.

The athletics was, alongside the Olympic cycling events, one of the few large sports programmes in which the host nation fared comparatively poorly in terms of medals won. Despite a haul of 100 medals at the games as a whole, Chinese athletes took home two bronze medals from the athletics events. The country's foremost athlete Liu Xiang, the 2004 Olympic champion in the 110 metres hurdles, had to withdraw after a false start due to injury.

Medal summary

Men

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Usain Bolt  Jamaica	9.69 (WR)	Richard Thompson  Trinidad and Tobago	9.89	Walter Dix  United States	9.91
200 metres	Usain Bolt  Jamaica	19.30 (WR)	Shawn Crawford  United States	19.96	Walter Dix  United States	19.98
400 metres	LaShawn Merritt  United States	43.75	Jeremy Wariner  United States	44.74	David Neville  United States	44.80
800 metres	Wilfred Bungei  Kenya	1:44.65	Ismail Ahmed Ismail  Sudan	1:44.70	Alfred Kirwa Yego  Kenya	1:44.82
1500 metres	Asbel Kipruto Kiprop  Kenya	3:33.11	Nicholas Willis  New Zealand	3:34.16	Mehdi Baala  France	3:34.21
5000 metres	Kenenisa Bekele  Ethiopia	12:57.82 (OR)	Eliud Kipchoge  Kenya	13:02.80	Edwin Cheruiyot Soi  Kenya	13:06.22
10,000 metres	Kenenisa Bekele  Ethiopia	27:01.17 (OR)	Sileshi Sihine  Ethiopia	27:02.77	Micah Kogo  Kenya	27:04.11
110 metres hurdles	Dayron Robles  Cuba	12.93	David Payne  United States	13.17	David Oliver  United States	13.18
400 metres hurdles	Angelo Taylor  United States	47.25	Kerron Clement  United States	47.98	Bershawn Jackson  United States	48.06
3000 metres steeplechase	Brimin Kiprop Kipruto  Kenya	8:10.34	Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad  France	8:10.49	Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong  Kenya	8:11.01
4×100 metres relay	Jamaica (JAM) Nesta Carter Michael Frater Usain Bolt Asafa Powell Dwight Thomas*	37.10 (WR)	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) Keston Bledman Marc Burns Emmanuel Callender Richard Thompson Aaron Armstrong*	38.06	Japan (JPN) Naoki Tsukahara Shingo Suetsugu Shinji Takahira Nobuharu Asahara	38.15
4×400 metres relay	United States (USA) LaShawn Merritt Angelo Taylor David Neville Jeremy Wariner Kerron Clement* Reggie Witherspoon*	2:55.39 (OR)	Bahamas (BAH) Andretti Bain Michael Mathieu Andrae Williams Chris Brown Avard Moncur* Ramon Miller*	2:58.03	Russia (RUS) Maksim Dyldin Vladislav Frolov Anton Kokorin Denis Alexeev	2:58.06
Marathon	Samuel Wanjiru  Kenya	2:06:32 (OR)	Jaouad Gharib  Morocco	2:07:16	Tsegay Kebede  Ethiopia	2:10:00
20 kilometres walk	Valeriy Borchin  Russia	1:19:01	Jefferson Pérez  Ecuador	1:19:15	Jared Tallent  Australia	1:19:42
50 kilometres walk	Alex Schwazer  Italy	3:37:09 (OR)	Jared Tallent  Australia	3:39:27	Denis Nizhegorodov  Russia	3:40:14
High jump	Andrey Silnov  Russia	2.36 m	Germaine Mason  Great Britain	2.34 m	Yaroslav Rybakov  Russia	2.34 m
Pole vault	Steven Hooker  Australia	5.96 m (OR)	Evgeny Lukyanenko  Russia	5.85 m	Denys Yurchenko  Ukraine	5.70 m
Long jump	Irving Saladino  Panama	8.34 m	Khotso Mokoena  South Africa	8.24 m	Ibrahim Camejo  Cuba	8.20 m
Triple jump	Nelson Évora  Portugal	17.67 m	Phillips Idowu  Great Britain	17.62 m	Leevan Sands  Bahamas	17.59 m
Shot put [a]	Tomasz Majewski  Poland	21.51 m	Christian Cantwell  United States	21.09 m	Dylan Armstrong  Canada	21.04 m
Discus throw	Gerd Kanter  Estonia	68.82 m	Piotr Małachowski  Poland	67.82 m	Virgilijus Alekna  Lithuania	67.79 m
Hammer throw [b]	Primož Kozmus  Slovenia	82.02 m	Vadim Devyatovskiy  Belarus	81.61 m	Ivan Tsikhan  Belarus	81.51 m
Javelin throw	Andreas Thorkildsen  Norway	90.57 m (OR)	Ainārs Kovals  Latvia	86.64 m	Tero Pitkämäki  Finland	86.16 m
Decathlon	Bryan Clay  United States	8791	Andrei Krauchanka  Belarus	8551	Leonel Suárez  Cuba	8527

• ^a The original bronze medalist, Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus, was stripped of his bronze medal after being given a lifetime ban in 2013 for doping offences. The rest of the competitors were elevated by one position accordingly.
• ^b Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan were originally disqualified for doping, but had their medals reinstated in June 2010 after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that there was errors at the Chinese medical lab.

Women

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Shelly-Ann Fraser  Jamaica	10.78	Sherone Simpson  Jamaica Kerron Stewart  Jamaica	10.98	Not awarded as there was a tie for silver.
200 metres	Veronica Campbell-Brown  Jamaica	21.74	Allyson Felix  United States	21.93	Kerron Stewart  Jamaica	22.00
400 metres	Christine Ohuruogu  Great Britain	49.62	Shericka Williams  Jamaica	49.69	Sanya Richards  United States	49.93
800 metres	Pamela Jelimo  Kenya	1:54.87	Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei  Kenya	1:56.07	Hasna Benhassi  Morocco	1:56.73
1500 metres	Nancy Jebet Lagat  Kenya	4:00.23	Iryna Lishchynska  Ukraine	4:01.63	Nataliya Tobias  Ukraine	4:01.78
5000 metres	Tirunesh Dibaba  Ethiopia	15:41.40	Elvan Abeylegesse  Turkey	15:42.74	Meseret Defar  Ethiopia	15:44.12
10,000 metres	Tirunesh Dibaba  Ethiopia	29:54.66 (OR)	Elvan Abeylegesse  Turkey	29:56.34	Shalane Flanagan  United States	30:22.22
100 metres hurdles	Dawn Harper  United States	12.54	Sally Pearson  Australia	12.64	Priscilla Lopes-Schliep  Canada	12.64
400 metres hurdles	Melaine Walker  Jamaica	52.64 (OR)	Sheena Tosta  United States	53.70	Tasha Danvers  Great Britain	53.84
3000 metres steeplechase	Gulnara Galkina-Samitova  Russia	8:58.81 (WR)	Eunice Jepkorir  Kenya	9:07.41	Yekaterina Volkova  Russia	9:07.64
4×100 metres relay	Russia (RUS) Evgeniya Polyakova Aleksandra Fedoriva Yulia Gushchina Yuliya Chermoshanskaya	42.31	Belgium (BEL) Olivia Borlée Hanna Mariën Élodie Ouédraogo Kim Gevaert	42.54 (NR)	Nigeria (NGR) Franca Idoko Gloria Kemasuode Halimat Ismaila Oludamola Osayomi Agnes Osazuwa*	43.04
4×400 metres relay	United States (USA) Mary Wineberg Allyson Felix Monique Henderson Sanya Richards Natasha Hastings*	3:18.54	Russia (RUS) Yulia Gushchina Lyudmila Litvinova Tatiana Firova Anastasia Kapachinskaya Elena Migunova* Tatyana Veshkurova*	3:18.82	Jamaica (JAM) Shericka Williams Shereefa Lloyd Rosemarie Whyte Novelene Williams Bobby-Gaye Wilkins*	3:20.40
Marathon	Constantina Diṭă-Tomescu  Romania	2:26:44	Catherine Ndereba  Kenya	2:27:06	Zhou Chunxiu  China	2:27:07
20 kilometres walk	Olga Kaniskina  Russia	1:26:31 (OR)	Kjersti Tysse Plätzer  Norway	1:27:07	Elisa Rigaudo  Italy	1:27:12
High jump	Tia Hellebaut  Belgium	2.05 m	Blanka Vlašić  Croatia	2.05 m	Anna Chicherova  Russia	2.03 m
Pole vault	Yelena Isinbayeva  Russia	5.05 m (WR)	Jennifer Stuczynski  United States	4.80 m	Svetlana Feofanova  Russia	4.75 m
Long jump	Maurren Maggi  Brazil	7.04 m	Tatyana Lebedeva  Russia	7.03 m	Blessing Okagbare  Nigeria	6.91 m
Triple jump	Françoise Mbango Etone  Cameroon	15.39 m (OR)	Tatyana Lebedeva  Russia	15.32 m	Hrysopiyi Devetzi  Greece	15.23 m
Shot put	Valerie Vili  New Zealand	20.56 m	Natallia Mikhnevich  Belarus	20.28 m	Nadzeya Astapchuk  Belarus	19.86 m
Discus throw	Stephanie Brown Trafton  United States	64.74 m	Yarelis Barrios  Cuba	63.64 m	Olena Antonova  Ukraine	62.59 m
Hammer throw [d]	Aksana Miankova  Belarus	76.31 m (OR)	Yipsi Moreno  Cuba	75.20 m	Zhang Wenxiu  China	74.32 m
Javelin throw	Barbora Špotáková  Czech Republic	71.42 m	Mariya Abakumova  Russia	70.78 m	Christina Obergföll  Germany	66.13 m
Heptathlon [c]	Natalya Dobrynska  Ukraine	6733	Hyleas Fountain  United States	6619	Tatyana Chernova  Russia	6591

* Athletes who participated in the heats only and received medals.

• ^c Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine originally won the silver medal in the women's heptathlon, but was disqualified after she tested positive for methyltestosterone.
• ^d Retests of samples from the 2008 Summer Olympics detected a positive sample from Aksana Miankova of Belarus for performance enhancing drugs. The IOC are processing the reallocation of medals.

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	7	9	7	23
2	Russia (RUS)	6	5	7	18
3	Kenya (KEN)	6	4	4	14
4	Jamaica (JAM)	6	3	2	11
5	Ethiopia (ETH)	4	1	2	7
6	Belarus (BLR)	1	3	2	6
7	Cuba (CUB)	1	2	2	5
8	Australia (AUS)	1	2	1	4
8	Great Britain (GBR)	1	2	1	4
10	Ukraine (UKR)	1	1	3	5
11	Belgium (BEL)	1	1	0	2
11	Norway (NOR)	1	1	0	2
11	New Zealand (NZL)	1	1	0	2
11	Poland (POL)	1	1	0	2
15	Italy (ITA)	1	0	1	2
16	Brazil (BRA)	1	0	0	1
16	Cameroon (CMR)	1	0	0	1
16	Czech Republic (CZE)	1	0	0	1
16	Estonia (EST)	1	0	0	1
16	Panama (PAN)	1	0	0	1
16	Portugal (POR)	1	0	0	1
16	Romania (ROU)	1	0	0	1
16	Slovenia (SLO)	1	0	0	1
24	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	0	2	0	2
24	Turkey (TUR)	0	2	0	2
26	Bahamas (BAH)	0	1	1	2
26	France (FRA)	0	1	1	2
26	Morocco (MAR)	0	1	1	2
29	Croatia (CRO)	0	1	0	1
29	Ecuador (ECU)	0	1	0	1
29	Latvia (LAT)	0	1	0	1
29	South Africa (RSA)	0	1	0	1
29	Sudan (SUD)	0	1	0	1
34	China (CHN)	0	0	2	2
34	Nigeria (NGR)	0	0	2	2
34	Canada (CAN)	0	0	2	2
36	Finland (FIN)	0	0	1	1
36	Germany (GER)	0	0	1	1
36	Greece (GRE)	0	0	1	1
36	Japan (JPN)	0	0	1	1
36	Lithuania (LTU)	0	0	1	1
Total		47	48	46	141

Records broken

During these 2008 Summer Olympic Games, 17 new Olympic records and 5 new world records were set in the athletics events.

Men's Olympic and world records

Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Result	OR	WR
100 metres	August 16	Final	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	9.69 s	OR	WR
200 metres	August 20	Final	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	19.30 s	OR	WR
5000 metres	August 23	Final	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia	12:57.82	OR
10000 metres	August 17	Final	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia	27:01.17	OR
4x100 metre relay	August 22	Final	Nesta Carter Michael Frater Usain Bolt Asafa Powell	Jamaica	37.10 s	OR	WR
4x400 metre relay	August 23	Final	LaShawn Merritt Angelo Taylor David Neville Jeremy Wariner	United States	2:55.39	OR
Marathon	August 24	Final	Samuel Kamau Wansiru	Kenya	2:06:32	OR
50 kilometre walk	August 22	Final	Alex Schwazer	Italy	3:37:09	OR
Pole vault	August 22	Final	Steven Hooker	Australia	5.96 m	OR
Javelin throw	August 23	Final	Andreas Thorkildsen	Norway	90.57 m	OR
Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Result	OR	WR
400 metre hurdles	August 20	Final	Melaine Walker	Jamaica	52.64	OR
3,000 metre steeplechase	August 17	Final	Gulnara Galkina-Samitova	Russia	8:58.81	OR*	WR
10,000 metres	August 20	Final	Tirunesh Dibaba	Ethiopia	29:54.66	OR
20km walk	August 20	Final	Olga Kaniskina	Russia	1:26:31	OR
Triple jump	August 17	Final	Françoise Mbango Etone	Cameroon	15.39 m	OR
Pole vault	August 18	Final	Yelena Isinbayeva	Russia	5.05 m	OR	WR
Hammer throw	August 20	Final	Aksana Miankova	Belarus	76.34 m	O

Participating nations of men's events

Country	Total
Albania	1
Algeria	8
Andorra	1
Angola	1
Argentina	8
Armenia	1
Australia	23
Austria	2
Bahrain	9
Belarus	18
Belgium	10
Belize	2
Benin	1
Bermuda	1
Bolivia	1
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1
Botswana	6
British Virgin Islands	1
Burundi	1
Cambodia	1
Cameroon	1
Cape Verde	1
Cayman Islands	1
Chile	5
Chinese Taipei	2
Costa Rica	2
Croatia	4
Cyprus	1
Denmark	2
Djibouti	1
DR Congo	1
Dominica	2
Dominican Republic	5
Egypt	4
El Salvador	1
Eritrea	8
Estonia	9
Ethiopia	14
Fiji	1
Finland	15
Macedonia	1
Georgia	1
Greece	13
Grenada	3
Guam	1
Guatemala	3
Guinea	1
Guyana	1
Haiti	1
Hungary	9
Iceland	1
India	3
Iran	6
Iraq	1
Ireland	8
Israel	4
Jordan	1
Kazakhstan	7
Kenya	20
Kuwait	2
Kyrgyzstan	2
Latvia	11
Lebanon	1
Lesotho	3
Liberia	2
Libya	1
Liechtenstein	1
Lithuania	6
Madagascar	1
Malaysia	1
Malawi	1
Mali	1
Malta	1
Mauritania	1
Mauritius	2
Mexico	14
Moldova	8
Mongolia	1
Montenegro	1
Morocco	19
Myanmar	1
Namibia	1
Nepal	1
Netherlands	10
New Zealand	4
Nicaragua	1
Niger	1
North Korea	3
Pakistan	1
Palestine	1
Panama	2
Papua New Guinea	1
Paraguay	1
Peru	2
Philippines	1
Puerto Rico	4
Romania	1
Rwanda	1
Saint Lucia	1
Samoa	1
San Marino	1
Saudi Arabia	8
Senegal	2
Serbia	5
Sierra Leone	1
Slovakia	11
Somalia	1
South Africa	17
South Korea	10
Sudan	4
Swaziland	1
Sweden	8
Switzerland	5
Syria	1
São Tomé and Príncipe	1
Tajikistan	1
Tanzania	6
Thailand	4
Tunisia	2
Turkey	6
Turkmenistan	1
Uganda	6
United Arab Emirates	1
Uruguay	2
Uzbekistan	6
Venezuela	3
Vietnam	1
Virgin Islands	1
Yemen	1
Zambia	1
Zimbabwe	6
Afghanistan	1
American Samoa	1
Antigua and Barbuda	3
Azerbaijan	2
Bahamas	11
Bangladesh	1
Barbados	2
Bulgaria	7
Burkina Faso	1
Central African Republic	1
Chad	1
China	27
Colombia	7
Comoros	1
Congo	1
Cook Islands	1
Cuba	21
Czech Republic	17
Ecuador	9
Equatorial Guinea	1
Gabon	1
The Gambia	1
Germany	23
Ghana	2
Guinea-Bissau	1
Honduras	1
Hong Kong	1
Indonesia	1
Kiribati	1
Laos	1
Maldives	1
Marshall Islands	1
Federated States of Micronesia	1
Monaco	1
Netherlands Antilles	1
Norway	4
Oman	1
Palau	1
Poland	27
Portugal	13
Qatar	14
Russia	44
Saint Kitts and Nevis	1
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1
Seychelles	1
Singapore	1
Slovenia	10
Solomon Islands	1
Spain	32
Suriname	1
Tonga	1
Tuvalu	1
Ukraine	28
Vanuatu	1
Canada	18
France	25
Italy	25
Japan	22
Brazil	21
Great Britain	27
Jamaica	21
Nigeria	8
Trinidad and Tobago	13
United States	61
Total athletes	1083
Total NOC	195

Participating nations of women's events

Country	Total
Afghanistan	1
Albania	1
Algeria	4
Andorra	1
Antigua and Barbuda	1
Argentina	3
Armenia	1
Australia	17
Austria	1
Bahamas	7
Bahrain	2
Bangladesh	1
Barbados	1
Belarus	30
Belgium	7
Belize	1
Benin	1
Bermuda	1
Bolivia	1
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1
Botswana	1
Brazil	20
British Virgin Islands	1
Bulgaria	8
Burkina Faso	1
Burundi	1
Cambodia	1
Cameroon	4
Canada	11
Cayman Islands	1
Central African Republic	1
Chad	1
Chile	1
China	39
Chinese Taipei	1
Colombia	7
Comoros	1
Congo	1
Cook Islands	1
Costa Rica	1
Croatia	6
Cuba	22
Cyprus	5
Czech Republic	12
Ivory Coast	1
Denmark	1
Djibouti	1
DR Congo	1
Dominican Republic	1
Ecuador	2
El Salvador	1
Equatorial Guinea	1
Eritrea	2
Estonia	5
Ethiopia	13
Fiji	1
Finland	4
France	23
Macedonia	1
Gabon	1
The Gambia	1
Georgia	1
Germany	30
Ghana	1
Great Britain	31
Greece	19
Grenada	5
Guam	1
Guatemala	1
Guinea	1
Guinea-Bissau	1
Guyana	2
Haiti	3
Honduras	1
Hong Kong	1
Hungary	11
Iceland	2
Indonesia	1
India	11
Iraq	1
Ireland	8
Italy	20
Jamaica	24
Japan	15
Jordan	1
Kazakhstan	12
Kenya	17
Kyrgyzstan	3
Laos	1
Latvia	5
Lebanon	1
Lesotho	1
Liberia	1
Libya	1
Lithuania	12
Madagascar	1
Malaysia	2
Malawi	1
Maldives	1
Mali	1
Malta	1
Marshall Islands	1
Mauritania	1
Mauritius	1
Mexico	9
Federated States of Micronesia	1
Moldova	5
Mongolia	1
Montenegro	1
Morocco	7
Mozambique	1
Myanmar	1
Namibia	3
Nepal	1
Netherlands	4
New Zealand	6
Nicaragua	1
Niger	1
Nigeria	14
North Korea	3
Norway	5
Oman	1
Pakistan	1
Palau	1
Palestine	1
Papua New Guinea	1
Paraguay	1
Peru	1
Philippines	1
Poland	33
Portugal	14
Puerto Rico	1
Romania	15
Russia	60
Rwanda	1
Saint Kitts and Nevis	3
Saint Lucia	2
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1
Samoa	1
Serbia	5
Seychelles	1
Sierra Leone	1
Singapore	1
Slovakia	7
Slovenia	7
Solomon Islands	1
Somalia	1
South Africa	6
South Korea	7
Spain	22
Sri Lanka	2
Sudan	4
Suriname	1
Swaziland	1
Sweden	4
Switzerland	2
Syria	1
São Tomé and Príncipe	1
Tajikistan	1
Tanzania	1
Thailand	7
Timor-Leste	1
Togo	1
Tonga	1
Trinidad and Tobago	10
Tunisia	2
Turkey	9
Turkmenistan	1
Tuvalu	1
Uganda	1
Ukraine	38
United States	60
Uruguay	1
Uzbekistan	6
Vanuatu	1
Venezuela	1
Vietnam	1
Virgin Islands	1
Yemen	1
Zambia	1
Zimbabwe	1
Total athletes	973
Total NOC	181
2008' summer Olympic Games will remain noticeable for many reasons. Speaking about athletics, these games will go down in history as the day when Jamaica, at last, took over the sprint crown abandoned by the USA.