400 metres at the Olympics

400 metres at the Olympic Games
The 2012 Olympic men's 400 m final
Overview
Sport	Athletics
Gender	Men and women
Years held	Men: 1896 – 2016 Women: 1964 – 2012
Olympic record
Men	43.03 Wayde van Niekerk (2016)
Women	48.25 Marie-José Pérec (1996)
Reigning champion
Men	Wayde van Niekerk (RSA)
Women	Shaunae Miller (BAH)

The 400 metres at the Summer Olympics has been contested since the first edition of the multi-sport event. The men's 400 m has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1896 but nearly seventy years passed before the introduction of the women's 400 m, which has been held continuously since the 1964 Games. It is the most prestigious 400 m race at elite level. The competition format typically has two qualifying rounds leading to a final race between eight athletes.

The Olympic record for the men's race was set in 2016, and the record for the women's race was set in 1996. Wayde van Niekerk holds the men's record of 43.03 seconds, breaking world and Olympic records that had been held by Michael Johnson since 1999 and 1996 respectively. Marie-José Pérec is the women's record holder at 48.25 seconds. The men's world record has been broken several times at the Olympics: in 1912, 1932, 1960, 1968, and 2016. Irena Szewińska is the only person to break the women's world record at the competition, doing so in 1976.

Only two athletes have won the event twice: Marie-José Pérec became the first to defend the title in 1996, then Michael Johnson followed with victories in 1996 and 2000. No athlete has won more than three medals. Several medalists in the event have also had success in the 200 metres at the Olympics: Johnson, Perec, Szewińska and Valerie Brisco-Hooks have all won titles at both distances. Athletes chosen for the event almost always form part of their nation's team for the 4×400 metres relay at the Olympics.