Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles
# Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles

The men's 110 metres hurdles event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California took place on 5 and 6 August 1984. Twenty-six athletes from 17 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Roger Kingdom of the United States, the nation's first championship since 1972 and 16th title in the event overall. Arto Bryggare's bronze was Finland's first medal in the men's high hurdles.

## Background

This was the 20th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Two finalists from 1980 returned: sixth-place finisher Arto Bryggare of Finland and seventh-place finisher Javier Moracho of Spain. The 1980 champion, Thomas Munkelt of East Germany, was kept out due to the Soviet-led boycott. World record holder Renaldo Nehemiah of the United States was also prevented from competing, because the IOC claimed "he had lost his amateur status" by playing professional football, an entirely different sport. The favorite therefore was 1983 World Champion Greg Foster of the United States, though as usual all of the American hurdlers were potential medalists. Bryggare had come in second at the world championships and was also a contender.

Algeria, the People's Republic of China, Paraguay, Samoa, and the United Arab Emirates each made their first appearance in the event; the Republic of China competed as "Chinese Taipei" for the first time. The United States made its 19th appearance, most of any nation (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).

## Competition format

The competition continued to use the three-round format used since 1908 (except 1960, which had four rounds) and eight-man semifinals and finals used since 1964. The "fastest loser" system, also introduced in 1964, was not used as unnecessary for achieving the correct number of hurdlers advancing to the semifinals and final.

The first round consisted of four heats, with 6 or 7 hurdlers each. The top four hurdlers in each heat advanced to the semifinals. The 16 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals of 8 hurdlers each; the top four hurdlers in each advanced to the 8-man final.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1984 Summer Olympics.

| World record | Renaldo Nehemiah (USA) | 12.93 | Zürich, Switzerland | 19 August 1981 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Olympic record | Rod Milburn (USA) | 13.24 | Munich, East Germany | 7 September 1972 |

Greg Foster equalized the standing Olympic record with 13.24 seconds; he and Roger Kingdom both matched that time in the semifinals as well. In the final, Kingdom set a new Olympic record with 13.20 seconds, with Foster also coming in under the old record (with 13.23 seconds).

## Schedule

All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)

| Date | Time | Round |
| - | - | - |
| Sunday, 5 August 1984 | 16:25 | Round 1 |
| Monday, 6 August 1984 | 16:00 18:05 | Semifinals Final |

## Results

### Round 1

**Heat 1**

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 2 | Arto Bryggare | Finland | 13.35 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Mark McKoy | Canada | 13.58 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Daniele Fontecchio | Italy | 13.75 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Yu Zhicheng | China | 14.20 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | Mohamed Ryad Ben Haddad | Algeria | 14.44 | |
| 6 | 7 | Nicolás Chaparro | Paraguay | 15.51 | |
| — | 1 | Mark Holtom | Great Britain | DSQ | |
| | | | | Wind: +2.0 m/s | Wind: +2.0 m/s |

**Heat 2**

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 5 | Tonie Campbell | United States | 13.53 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Carlos Sala | Spain | 14.02 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Wilbert Greaves | Great Britain | 14.04 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Jeff Glass | Canada | 14.07 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Franck Chevallier | France | 14.32 | |
| 6 | 2 | Hisham Mohamed Mekin | Egypt | 14.67 | |
| | | | | Wind: -0.5 m/s | Wind: -0.5 m/s |

**Heat 3**

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 1 | Roger Kingdom | United States | 13.53 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Javier Moracho | Spain | 14.05 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Nigel Walker | Great Britain | 14.07 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Li Jieqiang | China | 14.29 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Naji Mubarak | Kuwait | 14.56 | |
| 6 | 5 | Eric Spence | Canada | 14.93 | |
| | | | | Wind: -0.5 m/s | Wind: -0.5 m/s |

**Heat 4**

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 3 | Greg Foster | United States | 13.24 | Q, =OR |
| 2 | 6 | Stéphane Caristan | France | 13.45 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | Wu Chin-ling | Chinese Taipei | 13.91 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Donald Wright | Australia | 14.00 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Modesto Castillo | Dominican Republic | 14.05 | |
| 6 | 5 | Mohamed Helal Ali | United Arab Emirates | 15.75 | |
| — | 2 | William Fong | Samoa | DNF | |
| | | | | Wind: +1.7 m/s | Wind: +1.7 m/s |

### Semifinals

**Semifinal 1**

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 1 | Roger Kingdom | United States | 13.24 | Q, =OR |
| 2 | 5 | Tonie Campbell | United States | 13.56 | Q |
| 3 | 8 | Stéphane Caristan | France | 13.62 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Jeff Glass | Canada | 13.88 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Javier Moracho | Spain | 13.89 | |
| 6 | 3 | Wu Chin-Jing | Chinese Taipei | 14.21 | |
| 7 | 2 | Yu Zhicheng | China | 14.26 | |
| — | 4 | Nigel Walker | Great Britain | DNF | |
| | | | | Wind: +0.7 m/s | Wind: +0.7 m/s |

**Semifinal 2**

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 4 | Greg Foster | United States | 13.24 | Q, =OR |
| 2 | 8 | Mark McKoy | Canada | 13.30 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Arto Bryggare | Finland | 13.52 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Carlos Sala | Spain | 13.85 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Wilbert Greaves | Great Britain | 13.86 | |
| 6 | 2 | Daniele Fontecchio | Italy | 13.86 | |
| 7 | 3 | Donald Wright | Australia | 13.93 | |
| 8 | 7 | Li Jieqiang | China | 14.15 | |
| | | | | Wind: -1.1 m/s | Wind: -1.1 m/s |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Reaction | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | 8 | Roger Kingdom | United States | 0.137 | 13.20 | OR |
| | 1 | Greg Foster | United States | 0.150 | 13.23 | |
| | 2 | Arto Bryggare | Finland | 0.136 | 13.40 | |
| 4 | 3 | Mark McKoy | Canada | 0.149 | 13.45 | |
| 5 | 7 | Tonie Campbell | United States | 0.144 | 13.55 | |
| 6 | 6 | Stéphane Caristan | France | 0.184 | 13.71 | |
| 7 | 4 | Carlos Sala | Spain | 0.159 | 13.80 | |
| 8 | 5 | Jeff Glass | Canada | 0.170 | 14.15 | |
| | | | | Wind: -0.4 m/s | Wind: -0.4 m/s | Wind: -0.4 m/s |
