| Final | time | L | | 1. Edwin Moses |  United States | 47.75s | 6 | | 2. Danny Harris | United States | 48.13s | 4 | | 3. Harald Schmid |  West Germany | 48.19s | 5 | | 4. Sven Nylander |  Sweden | 48.97s | 3 | | 5. Amadou Dia Bâ |  Senegal | 49.28s | 7 | | 6. Tranel Hawkins | United States | 49.42s | 1 | | 7. Michel Zimmermann |  Belgium | 50.69s | 8 | | 8. Henry Amike |  Nigeria | 53.78s | 2 |
|
| | | Venue: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 100,000. 45 competitors from 30 nations. |
|
|
| | | First 4 from each Semi advanced to Final. |
| Semi 1 | time | | | 1. Edwin Moses | United States | 48.51s | Q | | 2. Tranel Hawkins | United States | 48.94s | Q | | 3. Amadou Dia Bâ | Senegal | 49.44s | Q | | 4. Michel Zimmermann | Belgium | 49.79s | Q | | 5. Simon Kitur |  Kenya | 49.80s | | | 6. Uwe Schmitt | West Germany | 50.08s | | | 7. Greg Rolle |  Bahamas | 50.16s | | | 8. Antônio Dias Ferreira |  Brazil | 50.70s | |
|
|
| Semi 2 | time | | | 1. Danny Harris | United States | 48.92s | Q | | 2. Sven Nylander | Sweden | 49.03s | Q | | 3. Harald Schmid | West Germany | 49.04s | Q | | 4. Henry Amike | Nigeria | 49.36s | Q | | 5. Karl Smith |  Jamaica | 49.58s | | | 6. Franz Meier |  Switzerland | 49.89s | | | 7. Ryoichi Yoshida |  Japan | 49.92s | | | 8. Rik Tommelein | Belgium | 50.06s | |
|
Moses had won 89 finals in row before LA, and was a prohibitive
favourite. He was fastest in the first round with 49.33, 0.01 quicker
than Schmid, with all six heat winners breaking 50 seconds. Moses was
again fastest in the semi-finals, this time with 48.51 while teammates
Hawkins (48.94), and Harris, winner of the other semi-final in 48.92,
were the next fastest.
After a rare false start by Moses the field was away at the second
time of asking, and Moses was 4m clear of Schmid by the fifth hurdle
(21.1 versus 21.6). The former champion was never in any danger as
he won by 3m from Harris. The 18 year-old surged past Schmid after
the ninth hurdle after he had accidentally caught the German with his
right arm one hurdle earlier.
Three years later, at the World Championships, the order of the first
five was the same in the best race of the decade, with Moses running
47.46 and the next two finishing just 0.02 behind him. It was in that
year that Moses lost to Harris, after 107 consecutive wins since 1977.
With his Los Angeles win Moses became the only man to regain an
Olympic 400m hurdles title.
|
| | | First 2 from each Heat and Best 4 times advanced to Semi-Finals. |
| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. Edwin Moses | United States | 49.33s | Q | | 2. Antônio Dias Ferreira | Brazil | 49.85s | Q | | 3. Michel Zimmermann | Belgium | 49.90s | | | 4. Thomas Futterknecht |  Austria | 50.25s | | | 5. Thomas Nyberg | Sweden | 50.47s | | | 6. Brunel Gérard |  France | 50.99s | | | 7. Ahmed Ghanem |  Egypt | 51.08s | | | 8. Phil Beattie |  Great Britain | 51.27s | |
|
|
| Heat 2 | time | | | 1. Harald Schmid | West Germany | 49.34s | Q | | 2. Karl Smith | Jamaica | 49.66s | Q | | 3. Franz Meier | Switzerland | 49.81s | q | | 4. Rik Tommelein | Belgium | 50.05s | q | | 5. Shigenori Omori | Japan | 50.14s | | | 6. Georgios Vamvakas |  Greece | 50.39s | | | 7. Oswaldo Zea |  Venezuela | 51.44s | |
|
| Heat3 | time | | | 1. Sven Nylander | Sweden | 49.88s | Q | | 2. Ryoichi Yoshida | Japan | 50.24s | Q | | 3. René Djédjémél |  Ivory Coast | 50.27s | | | 4. Peter Rwamuhanda |  Uganda | 50.55s | | | 5. Franck Jonot | France | 51.39s | | | 6. Martin Gillingham | Great Britain | 52.15s | | | 7. Vincent Confait |  Seychelles | 53.62s | | | 8. Nicolás Chaparro |  Paraguay | 56.98s | |
|
|
| Heat 4 | time | | | 1. Tranel Hawkins | United States | 49.51s | Q | | 2. Simon Kitur | Kenya | 49.70s | Q | | 3. Uwe Schmitt | West Germany | 49.77s | q | | 4. Ahmed Hamada Jassim |  Bahrain | 50.62s | | | 5. Ian Newhouse |  Canada | 51.14s | | | 6. Christer Gullstrand | Sweden | 51.27s | | | 7. Jean-Pierre Abossolo-Ze |  Cameroon | 52.85s | | | 8. Domingos Mendes |  Mozambique | 54.52s | |
|
| Heat 5 | time | | | 1. Amadou Dia Bâ | Senegal | 49.94s | Q | | 2. Henry Amike | Nigeria | 50.11s | Q | | 3. Ken Gray | Jamaica | 50.46s | | | 4. Martin Briggs | Great Britain | 50.80s | | | 5. Pierre Leveille | Canada | 51.47s | | | 6. Meshak Munyoro | Kenya | 51.99s | | | 7. Faustin Butéra | Cameroon | 54.36s | | | 8. Ibrahim Khamis |  UA Emirates | 55.50s | |
|
|
| Heat 6 | time | | | 1. Danny Harris | United States | 49.81s | Q | | 2. Greg Rolle | Bahamas | 50.41s | Q | | 3. Lloyd Guss | Canada | 51.02s | | | 4. Athanasios Kalogiannis | Greece | 50.62s | | | 5. Jasem Al-Dowaila |  Kuwait | 51.45s | | | -. José Alonso |  Spain | DNF | |
|
| 
