Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles

The men's 110 metres hurdles at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entry list of 43 competitors from 31 nations, with six qualifying heats (43 runners), four second-round races (32) and two semifinals (16) before the final (8) took place on Monday September 26, 1988. 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 second man to successfully defend Olympic gold in the event (Lee Calhoun, 1956 and 1960). It was the nation's 17th title in the event. Colin Jackson's silver was Great Britain's first medal in the event since 1936.

Men's 110 metres hurdles at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Date	25 & 26 September
Competitors	41 from 31 nations
Winning time	12.98 OR
Medalists
Roger Kingdom  United States Colin Jackson  Great Britain Tonie Campbell  United States

Background

This was the 21st appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Four finalists from 1984 returned: gold medalist Roger Kingdom of the United States, fourth-place finisher Mark McKoy of Canada, sixth-place finisher Stéphane Caristan of France, and seventh-place finisher Carlos Sala of Spain. Kingdom was a favorite to repeat, having recovered from two hamstring injuries that had plagued him between Games. His biggest competitor was countryman Greg Foster, who had won the 1987 World Championship, but Foster was forced to withdraw after he broke his arm in a race fall before the U.S. Olympic trials. The next two placers at worlds were the Brits Colin Jackson and Jon Ridgeon, who were expected to challenge Kingdom.

Benin, Fiji, Guyana, South Korea, Mauritius, Nepal, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 20th appearance, most of any nation (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).

Competition format

The competition expanded to a four-round format (previously used once in 1960), still using the eight-man semifinals and finals used since 1964. The "fastest loser" system, also introduced in 1964, was used in the first round.

The first round consisted of six heats, with 7 or 8 hurdlers each. The top five hurdlers in each heat, along with the two next fastest overall, advanced to the semifinals. The 32 quarterfinalists were divided into four heats of 8 hurdlers each, with the top four in each heat advancing. The 16 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals of 8 hurdlers each; again, 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 1988 Summer Olympics.

World record	Renaldo Nehemiah (USA)	12.93	Zürich, Switzerland	19 August 1981
Olympic record	Roger Kingdom (USA)	13.20	Los Angeles, United States	6 August 1984

Kingdom broke his own Olympic record in the quarterfinals, with 13.17 seconds, then again in the final with 12.98 seconds.

Schedule

All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)

Date	Time	Round
Sunday, 25 September 1988	11:25 13:14	Round 1 Quarterfinals
Monday, 26 September 1988	13:07 15:38	Semifinals Final

Results

Round 1

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3	Colin Jackson	Great Britain	13.50	Q
2	7	Stéphane Caristan	France	13.96	Q
3	4	Andrew Parker	Jamaica	14.00	Q
4	8	Florian Schwarthoff	West Germany	14.13	Q
5	1	Noureddine Tadjine	Algeria	14.36	Q
6	2	Rashid Marzouq Al-Abdulla	Qatar	14.69	q
7	5	José de Souza	Benin	15.05
—	6	Lyndon Campos	Brazil	DNS
				Wind: +0.0 m/s

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3	Tonie Campbell	United States	13.45	Q
2	5	Yu Zhicheng	China	14.07	Q
3	2	Aleksandr Markin	Soviet Union	14.17	Q
4	4	Thomas Kearns	Ireland	14.17	Q
5	7	Modesto Castillo	Dominican Republic	14.40	Q
6	6	Judex Lefou	Mauritius	14.73
—	1	Stephen Kerho	Canada	DNF
				Wind: -0.2 m/s

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	1	Roger Kingdom	United States	13.40	Q
2	2	Tony Jarrett	Great Britain	13.45	Q
3	3	Yang Guang	China	14.01	Q
4	7	Derrick Knowles	Bahamas	14.22	Q
5	6	Zeyad Abdulrazak	Kuwait	14.44	Q
6	5	Youssef Al-Dosari	Saudi Arabia	15.03
—	4	Benjamin Grant	Sierra Leone	DNS
				Wind: +0.8 m/s

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	4	Mark McKoy	Canada	13.78	Q
2	5	Jiří Hudec	Czechoslovakia	13.78	Q
3	3	Philippe Tourret	France	13.88	Q
4	7	Alain Cuypers	Belgium	13.89	Q
5	6	Javier Moracho	Spain	13.96	Q
6	2	Wu Chin-Jing	Chinese Taipei	14.11	q
7	1	Dambar Kunwar	Nepal	16.51
				Wind: +0.3 m/s

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3	Vladimir Shishkin	Soviet Union	13.75	Q
2	6	Mikael Ylöstalo	Finland	13.87	Q
3	2	Erik Jensen	Denmark	13.91	Q
4	4	Carlos Sala	Spain	14.00	Q
5	1	Kim Jin-tae	South Korea	14.06	Q
6	7	João Lima	Portugal	14.73
7	5	Albert Miller	Fiji	14.86
				Wind: +1.0 m/s

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3	Arthur Blake	United States	13.66	Q
2	2	Jonathan Ridgeon	Great Britain	13.75	Q
3	5	Richard Bucknor	Jamaica	13.89	Q
4	4	György Bakos	Hungary	13.94	Q
5	7	Nagi Ghazi Moursine	Iraq	14.46	Q
6	1	Curt Hampstead	Guyana	14.88
7	6	Roberto Carmona	Mexico	15.24
				Wind: +0.9 m/s

Overall results for round 1

Rank	Heat	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3	Roger Kingdom	United States	13.40	Q
2	2	Tonie Campbell	United States	13.45	Q
	3	Tony Jarrett	Great Britain	13.45	Q
4	1	Colin Jackson	Great Britain	13.50	Q
5	6	Arthur Blake	United States	13.66	Q
6	5	Vladimir Shishkin	Soviet Union	13.75	Q
	6	Jonathan Ridgeon	Great Britain	13.75	Q
8	4	Mark McKoy	Canada	13.78	Q
	4	Jiří Hudec	Czechoslovakia	13.78	Q
10	5	Mikael Ylöstalo	Finland	13.87	Q
11	4	Philippe Tourret	France	13.88	Q
12	4	Alain Cuypers	Belgium	13.89	Q
	6	Richard Bucknor	Jamaica	13.89	Q
14	5	Erik Jensen	Denmark	13.91	Q
15	6	György Bakos	Hungary	13.94	Q
16	1	Stéphane Caristan	France	13.96	Q
	4	Javier Moracho	Spain	13.96	Q
18	1	Andrew Parker	Jamaica	14.00	Q
	5	Carlos Sala	Spain	14.00	Q
20	3	Yang Guang	China	14.01	Q
21	5	Kim Jin-tae	South Korea	14.06	Q
22	2	Yu Zhicheng	China	14.07	Q
23	4	Wu Chin-Jing	Chinese Taipei	14.11	q
24	1	Florian Schwarthoff	West Germany	14.13	Q
25	2	Aleksandr Markin	Soviet Union	14.17	Q
26	2	Thomas Kearns	Ireland	14.17	Q
27	3	Derrick Knowles	Bahamas	14.22	Q
28	1	Noureddine Tadjine	Algeria	14.36	Q
29	2	Modesto Castillo	Dominican Republic	14.40	Q
30	3	Zeyad Abdulrazak	Kuwait	14.44	Q
31	6	Nagi Ghazi Moursine	Iraq	14.46	Q
32	1	Rashid Marzouq Al-Abdulla	Qatar	14.69	q
33	2	Judex Lefou	Mauritius	14.73
	5	João Lima	Portugal	14.73
35	5	Albert Miller	Fiji	14.86
36	6	Curt Hampstead	Guyana	14.88
37	3	Youssef Al-Dosari	Saudi Arabia	15.03
38	1	José de Souza	Benin	15.05
39	6	Roberto Carmona	Mexico	15.24
40	4	Dambar Kunwar	Nepal	16.51
—	2	Stephen Kerho	Canada	DNF
	1	Lyndon Campos	Brazil	DNS
	3	Benjamin Grant	Sierra Leone	DNS

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were held on Sunday 1988-09-25.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	4	Roger Kingdom	United States	13.17	Q, OR
2	3	Mark McKoy	Canada	13.56	Q
3	5	Stephane Caristan	France	13.61	Q
4	6	Jiří Hudec	Czechoslovakia	13.65	Q
5	2	Florian Schwarthoff	West Germany	13.67
6	1	Javier Moracho	Spain	13.88
7	7	Thomas Kearns	Ireland	14.30
8	8	Rashid Marzouq Al-Abdulla	Qatar	14.47
				Wind: +0.6 m/s

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3	Tonie Campbell	United States	13.47	Q
2	6	Philippe Tourret	France	13.73	Q
3	5	Jonathan Ridgeon	Great Britain	13.74	Q
4	2	Yu Zhicheng	China	13.95	Q
5	4	Erik Jensen	Denmark	14.02
6	1	Andrew Parker	Jamaica	14.05
7	8	Aleksandr Markin	Soviet Union	14.19
8	7	Zeyad Al-Khudhur	Kuwait	14.56
				Wind: +1.0 m/s

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	5	Tony Jarrett	Great Britain	13.59	Q
2	3	Vladimir Shishkin	Soviet Union	13.60	Q
3	6	Mikael Ylöstalo	Finland	13.70	Q
4	1	Carlos Sala	Spain	13.77	Q
5	2	Chin-Jing Wu	Chinese Taipei	14.23
6	8	George Knowles	Bahamas	14.30
7	7	Najil Mohsin	Iraq	14.47
8	4	György Bakos	Hungary	18.02
				Wind: +0.2 m/s

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	4	Colin Jackson	Great Britain	13.37	Q
2	6	Arthur Blake	United States	13.65	Q
3	3	Richard Bucknor	Jamaica	13.91	Q
4	5	Alain Cuypers	Belgium	13.97	Q
5	2	Jin-Tae Kim	South Korea	14.00
6	1	Modesto Castillo	Dominican Republic	14.21
7	7	Yang Guang	China	14.24
8	8	Nourreddine Tadjine	Algeria	14.35
				Wind: +0.6 m/s

Semifinals

The semifinals were held on Monday 1988-09-26.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	5	Vladimir Shishkin	Soviet Union	13.46	Q
2	6	Tonie Campbell	United States	13.47	Q
3	4	Colin Jackson	Great Britain	13.55	Q
4	1	Jonathan Ridgeon	Great Britain	13.68	Q
5	3	Stéphane Caristan	France	13.71
6	7	Carlos Sala	Spain	13.85
7	8	Alain Cuypers	Belgium	13.92
8	2	Richard Bucknor	Jamaica	13.98
				Wind: +0.0 m/s

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	3	Roger Kingdom	United States	13.37	Q
2	4	Arthur Blake	United States	13.52	Q
3	5	Mark McKoy	Canada	13.54	Q
4	6	Tony Jarrett	Great Britain	13.56	Q
5	1	Jiří Hudec	Czechoslovakia	13.73
6	7	Yu Zhicheng	China	13.94
7	8	Philippe Tourret	France	13.96
8	2	Mikael Ylöstalo	Finland	14.09
				Wind: -0.7 m/s

Final

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
	4	Roger Kingdom	United States	0.142	12.98	OR
	1	Colin Jackson	Great Britain	0.131	13.28
	6	Tonie Campbell	United States	0.161	13.38
4	3	Vladimir Shishkin	Soviet Union	0.139	13.51
5	7	Jonathan Ridgeon	Great Britain	0.150	13.52
6	2	Tony Jarrett	Great Britain	0.164	13.54
7	8	Mark McKoy	Canada	0.142	13.61
8	5	Arthur Blake	United States	0.056	13.96
				Wind: +1.5 m/s

See also

• 1987 Men's World Championships 110m Hurdles (Rome)
• 1990 Men's European Championships 110m Hurdles (Split)
• 1991 Men's World Championships 110m Hurdles (Tokyo)
• 1992 Men's Olympic 110m Hurdles (Barcelona)

External links

• (in English) Official Report