Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics


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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.

Athletics

at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad

Pictogram for athletics at the 2008 Games

VenueBeijing National Stadium
DatesAugust 15–24, 2008
Competitors2,057 from 200 nations

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2012 →

Beijing National Stadium where the athletics for 2008 Summer Olympics was held

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.

In the years following the events, results were significantly affected by doping findings; 19 of the 47 events have had amendments to their medal rankings as a result of testing and retesting of samples taken at or before the Games. Multiple medalists have been sanctioned for doping violations. Russia has had the most medals stripped (9).

Retrieved from Beijing Olympics 2008 Official Website.[1]

 
The Beijing National Stadium on August 16, 2008, during the Olympics

  *   Host nation (China)

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

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

  • 5000 metres Original silver medalist Elvan Abeylegesse,   Turkey, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return silver medal following a positive test for a banned substance at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics.[12] Meseret Defar of Ethiopia was advanced to silver, and Sylvia Kibet of Kenya to bronze.
  • 10000 metres Original silver medalist Elvan Abeylegesse,   Turkey, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return silver medal following a positive test for a banned substance at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics.[12] Shalane Flanagan was awarded the silver medal and Linet Chepkwemoi Masai the bronze.[13]
  • 3000 metres steeplechase Original bronze medalist Yekaterina Volkova,   Russia, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return bronze medal following retesting of her original in-competition sample returned a positive test for the presence of banned substances.[14] Following medals reallocation Tatyana Petrova-Arkhipova of Russia received the bronze medal.
  • 4 × 100 metres relay Originally won by Team   Russia, but gold medals were stripped due to anti-doping rules violation by Yulia Chermoshanskaya.[15] Following medals reallocation Belgium are awarded gold, Nigeria – silver and Brazil – bronze.
  • 4 × 400 metres relay Team   Russia originally won silver medals, while Team   Belarus originally placed fourth, but both were disqualified due to anti-doping rules violations - by Anastasiya Kapachinskaya and Tatyana Firova in the case of Russia and Sviatlana Usovich for Belarus.[16][17][18] Following medals reallocation Jamaica are promoted to silver and Great Britain to bronze.
  • high jump Original bronze medalist Anna Chicherova,   Russia, was officially stripped of her bronze medal following a positive retest of her sample from the 2008 Games for the anabolic steroid turinobol.[19] Yelena Slesarenko,   Russia, and Vita Palamar,   Ukraine, originally 4th and 5th, also were disqualified for doping following retests. Originally the 6th place athlete, Chaunte Howard,   United States, has received the bronze medal.
  • long jump Original silver medalist Tatyana Lebedeva,   Russia, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return silver medal following retesting of her original in-competition sample returned a positive test for the presence of the banned substances.[3] Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria was advanced to silver, Chelsea Hammond of Jamaica to bronze.
  • triple jump Original bronze medalist Hrysopiyi Devetzi,   Greece, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return bronze medal following retesting of original in-competition samples returned a positive result for banned substances.[8] Original silver medalist Tatyana Lebedeva,   Russia was also disqualified later due to use of banned substances.[3] Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan was advanced to silver, Yargelis Savigne of Cuba to bronze.
  • shot put Original silver medalist Natallia Mikhnevich,   Belarus, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return silver medal following retesting of her original in-competition sample returned a positive test for the presence of the banned substances methandienone and stanozolol.[18] Original bronze medalist Nadzeya Ostapchuk,   Belarus, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return bronze medal following retesting of her original in-competition sample returned a positive test.[20] Following medals reallocation Misleydis González of Cuba is promoted to silver and Gong Lijiao of China to bronze.
  • discus throw Retests of samples from the 2008 Summer Olympics detected a positive sample from original silver medalist Yarelys Barrios,   Cuba, for performance-enhancing drugs, and she was stripped of her medal on 1 September 2016.[21] After medal reallocation Olena Antonova received silver and Song Aimin received bronze.[22]
  • hammer throw Original gold medalist Aksana Miankova,   Belarus, disqualified, and stripped of and ordered to return gold medal following retesting of her original in-competition sample returned a positive test for the presence of the banned substances turinabol and oxandrolone.[18] Following medals reallocation Yipsi Moreno of Cuba is promoted to gold, Zhang Wenxiu of China to silver and Manuela Montebrun of France to bronze.
  • javelin throw Maria Abakumova,   Russia, who originally won the silver medal in the women's javelin, disqualified after she tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone. Christina Obergföll of Germany was advanced to silver, Goldie Sayers of Great Britain to bronze.[6]
  • heptathlon Lyudmila Blonska,   Ukraine, who originally won the silver medal in the women's heptathlon, disqualified after she tested positive for methyltestosterone.[23] Following reallocation Hyleas Fountain of the United States awarded silver, Tatyana Chernova of Russia – bronze. Chernova,   Russia, who had been awarded the bronze medal following Blonska's disqualification, was herself disqualified after a retest of her 2008 sample was found to also be positive for banned substances, namely turinabol, and the bronze medal was awarded to the 2004 bronze medalist Kelly Sotherton,   Great Britain.[24]

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

Men's Olympic and world records

edit

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
4 × 400 metres 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

Women's Olympic and world records

edit

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 OR

Participating nations

edit

  1. ^ "Athletics Medal Standings". Archived from the original on 18 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  2. ^ "IOC sanctions five athletes who competed in Beijing". Archived from the original on 2020-11-20. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  3. ^ a b c "IOC sanctions two athletes for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008". Archived from the original on 2017-01-25. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  4. ^ "The CAS dismissed the appeal of Jamaican sprinter Nesta Carter" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
  5. ^ "World Athletics The XXIX Olympic Games 4x100 Metres Relay men". Archived from the original on 2020-03-25. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
  6. ^ a b "IOC sanctions four athletes for failing anti-doping tests at Beijing 2008 and London 2012". Archived from the original on 2018-03-23. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  7. ^ "Beijing 2008 relay quartet to be awarded Olympic bronze". Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
  8. ^ a b "IOC sanctions 16 athletes for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008". IOC. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  9. ^ "South Dakotan pole vaulter receives medal from 2008 Olympics - NY Daily News". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 2017-04-19. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  10. ^ "Olympic Highlights". Archived from the original on 2016-10-16. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  11. ^ "CAS reinstates Olympic medals for hammer throwers". June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on 2016-11-28. Retrieved 2016-11-11.
  12. ^ a b "Turkish runners set to lose silvers for doping". 29 March 2017. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  13. ^ "Shalane Flanagan receives silver medal from 2008 Olympics". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2017-10-18. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
  14. ^ "IOC sanctions nine athletes for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008". Archived from the original on 2016-10-26. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  15. ^ "IOC sanctions Yulia Chermoshanskaya for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008". Archived from the original on 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
  16. ^ "IOC sanctions three athletes for failing anti-doping tests at Beijing 2008". Archived from the original on 2016-08-20. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
  17. ^ "IOC sanctions six athletes for failing anti-doping tests at Beijing 2008". Archived from the original on 2017-03-05. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  18. ^ a b c "IOC sanctions seven athletes for failing anti-doping tests at Beijing 2008 and London 2012". Archived from the original on 2020-12-05. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
  19. ^ "IOC sanctions Anna Chicherova for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008". Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  20. ^ "IOC sanctions eight athletes for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008 and London 2012". Archived from the original on 2017-01-13. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  21. ^ "IOC sanctions two athletes for failing anti-doping tests at Beijing 2008". Archived from the original on 2020-11-21. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  22. ^ Офіційно: Олена Антонова – срібний призер Олімпійських ігор-2008 Archived 2017-05-30 at the Wayback Machine (in Ukrainian)
  23. ^ IOC sanctions Liudmyla Blonska for failing Anti-Doping test Archived 2016-11-28 at the Wayback Machine IOC press release August 22, 2008.
  24. ^ "IOC sanctions two athletes for failing anti-doping test at Beijing 2008 and London 2012". Archived from the original on 2018-03-23. Retrieved 2017-04-24.