Athletics at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Pictogram for Athletics
Dates	July 26 August 3
No. of events	44
Competitors	2053 from 191 nations
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At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, 44 events in athletics were contested. There were a total number of 2053 participating athletes from 191 countries.

A total of two world records and 14 Olympic records were set during the competition.

Medal winners

Men

1996 athletics events (Carl Lewis pictured) covered on Argentine magazine El Gráfico

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Donovan Bailey  Canada	9.84 (WR)	Frankie Fredericks  Namibia	9.89	Ato Boldon  Trinidad and Tobago	9.90
200 metres details	Michael Johnson  United States	19.32 (WR)	Frankie Fredericks  Namibia	19.68 (AR)	Ato Boldon  Trinidad and Tobago	19.80
400 metres details	Michael Johnson  United States	43.49 (OR)	Roger Black  Great Britain	44.41	Davis Kamoga  Uganda	44.53
800 metres details	Vebjørn Rodal  Norway	1:42.58 (OR)	Hezekiél Sepeng  South Africa	1:42.74	Fred Onyancha  Kenya	1:42.79
1500 metres details	Noureddine Morceli  Algeria	3:35.78	Fermín Cacho  Spain	3:36.40	Stephen Kipkorir  Kenya	3:36.72
5000 metres details	Vénuste Niyongabo  Burundi	13:07.96	Paul Bitok  Kenya	13:08.16	Khalid Boulami  Morocco	13:08.37
10,000 metres details	Haile Gebrselassie  Ethiopia	27:07.34 (OR)	Paul Tergat  Kenya	27:08.17	Salah Hissou  Morocco	27:24.67
110 metres hurdles details	Allen Johnson  United States	12.95 (OR)	Mark Crear  United States	13.09	Florian Schwarthoff  Germany	13.17
400 metres hurdles details	Derrick Adkins  United States	47.54	Samuel Matete  Zambia	47.78	Calvin Davis  United States	47.96
3000 metres steeplechase details	Joseph Keter  Kenya	8:07.12	Moses Kiptanui  Kenya	8:08.33	Alessandro Lambruschini  Italy	8:11.28
4×100 metres relay details	Canada (CAN) Robert Esmie Glenroy Gilbert Bruny Surin Donovan Bailey Carlton Chambers*	37.69	United States (USA) Jon Drummond Tim Harden Michael Marsh Dennis Mitchell Tim Montgomery*	38.05	Brazil (BRA) Arnaldo da Silva Robson da Silva Édson Ribeiro André da Silva	38.41
4×400 metres relay details	United States (USA) LaMont Smith Alvin Harrison Derek Mills Anthuan Maybank Jason Rouser*	2:55.99	Great Britain (GBR) Iwan Thomas Jamie Baulch Mark Richardson Roger Black Mark Hylton* Du'aine Ladejo*	2:56.60	Jamaica (JAM) Michael McDonald Greg Haughton Roxbert Martin Davian Clarke Dennis Blake* Garth Robinson*	2:59.42
Marathon details	Josia Thugwane  South Africa	2:12:36	Lee Bong-Ju  South Korea	2:12:39	Erick Wainaina  Kenya	2:12:44
20 kilometres walk details	Jefferson Pérez  Ecuador	1:20:07	Ilya Markov  Russia	1:20:16	Bernardo Segura  Mexico	1:20:23
50 kilometres walk details	Robert Korzeniowski  Poland	3:43:30	Mikhail Shchennikov  Russia	3:43:36	Valentí Massana  Spain	3:44:19
High jump details	Charles Austin  United States	2.39 m (OR)	Artur Partyka  Poland	2.37 m	Steve Smith  Great Britain	2.35 m
Pole vault details	Jean Galfione  France	5.92 m	Igor Trandenkov  Russia	5.92 m	Andrei Tivontchik  Germany	5.92 m
Long jump details	Carl Lewis  United States	8.50 m	James Beckford  Jamaica	8.29 m	Joe Greene  United States	8.24 m
Triple jump details	Kenny Harrison  United States	18.09 m (OR)	Jonathan Edwards  Great Britain	17.88 m	Yoelbi Quesada  Cuba	17.44 m
Shot put details	Randy Barnes  United States	21.62 m	John Godina  United States	20.79 m	Oleksandr Bagach  Ukraine	20.75 m
Discus throw details	Lars Riedel  Germany	69.40 m	Vladimir Dubrovshchik  Belarus	66.60 m	Vasiliy Kaptyukh  Belarus	65.80 m
Hammer throw details	Balázs Kiss  Hungary	81.24 m	Lance Deal  United States	81.12 m	Oleksandr Krykun  Ukraine	80.02 m
Javelin throw details	Jan Železný  Czech Republic	88.16 m	Steve Backley  Great Britain	87.44 m	Seppo Räty  Finland	86.98 m
Decathlon details	Dan O'Brien  United States	8824 pts	Frank Busemann  Germany	8706 pts	Tomáš Dvořák  Czech Republic	8664 pts

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

Women

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Gail Devers  United States	10.94	Merlene Ottey  Jamaica	10.94	Gwen Torrence  United States	10.96
200 metres details	Marie-José Pérec  France	22.12	Merlene Ottey  Jamaica	22.24	Mary Onyali  Nigeria	22.38
400 metres details	Marie-José Pérec  France	48.25 (OR)	Cathy Freeman  Australia	48.63	Falilat Ogunkoya  Nigeria	49.10
800 metres details	Svetlana Masterkova  Russia	1:57.73	Ana Fidelia Quirot  Cuba	1:58.11	Maria de Lurdes Mutola  Mozambique	1:58.71
1500 metres details	Svetlana Masterkova  Russia	4:00.83	Gabriela Szabo  Romania	4:01.54	Theresia Kiesl  Austria	4:03.02 (NR)
5000 metres details	Wang Junxia  China	14:59.88 (OR)	Pauline Konga  Kenya	15:03.49	Roberta Brunet  Italy	15:07.52
10,000 metres details	Fernanda Ribeiro  Portugal	31:01.63 (OR)	Wang Junxia  China	31:02.59	Gete Wami  Ethiopia	31:06.65
100 metres hurdles details	Ludmila Engquist  Sweden	12.58	Brigita Bukovec  Slovenia	12.59	Patricia Girard  France	12.65
400 metres hurdles details	Deon Hemmings  Jamaica	52.82 (OR)	Kim Batten  United States	53.08	Tonja Buford-Bailey  United States	53.22
4×100 metres relay details	United States (USA) Chryste Gaines Gail Devers Inger Miller Gwen Torrence Carlette Guidry*	41.95	Bahamas (BAH) Eldece Clarke Chandra Sturrup Savatheda Fynes Pauline Davis-Thompson Debbie Ferguson*	42.14	Jamaica (JAM) Michelle Freeman Juliet Cuthbert Nikole Mitchell Merlene Ottey Gillian Russell* Andria Lloyd*	42.24
4×400 metres relay details	United States (USA) Rochelle Stevens Maicel Malone-Wallace Kim Graham Jearl Miles Linetta Wilson*	3:20.91	Nigeria (NGR) Olabisi Afolabi Fatima Yusuf Charity Opara Falilat Ogunkoya	3:21.04	Germany (GER) Uta Rohländer Linda Kisabaka Anja Rücker Grit Breuer	3:21.14
Marathon details	Fatuma Roba  Ethiopia	2:26:05	Valentina Yegorova  Russia	2:28:05	Yuko Arimori  Japan	2:28:39
10 kilometres walk details	Yelena Nikolayeva  Russia	41:49 (OR)	Elisabetta Perrone  Italy	42:12	Wang Yan  China	42:19
High jump details	Stefka Kostadinova  Bulgaria	2.05 m	Niki Bakoyianni  Greece	2.03 m	Inha Babakova  Ukraine	2.01 m
Long jump details	Chioma Ajunwa  Nigeria	7.12 m	Fiona May  Italy	7.02 m	Jackie Joyner-Kersee  United States	7.00 m
Triple jump details	Inessa Kravets  Ukraine	15.33 m (OR)	Inna Lasovskaya  Russia	14.98 m	Šárka Kašpárková  Czech Republic	14.98 m
Shot put details	Astrid Kumbernuss  Germany	20.56 m	Sui Xinmei  China	19.88 m	Irina Khudoroshkina  Russia	19.35 m
Discus throw details	Ilke Wyludda  Germany	69.66 m	Natalya Sadova  Russia	66.48 m	Ellina Zvereva  Belarus	65.64 m
Javelin throw details	Heli Rantanen  Finland	67.94 m	Louise McPaul  Australia	65.54 m	Trine Hattestad  Norway	64.98 m
Heptathlon details	Ghada Shouaa  Syria	6780 pts	Natallia Sazanovich  Belarus	6563 pts	Denise Lewis  Great Britain	6489 pts

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

Olympic and world records broken

Men

Note: Any world record is also an Olympic record

Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
100m	27 July	Final	Donovan Bailey	Canada	9.84	WR
200m	29 July	Final	Michael Johnson	United States	19.32	WR
400m	27 July	Final	Michael Johnson	United States	43.49	OR
800m	30 July	Final	Vebjørn Rodal	Norway	1:42.58	OR
10,000m	26 July	Final	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	27:07.34	OR
110m hurdles	28 July	Final	Allen Johnson	United States	12.95	OR
High jump	30 July	Final	Charles Austin	United States	2.39	OR
Pole vault	1 August	Final	Jean Galifione	United States	5.92	OR
Triple jump	2 August	Final	Kenny Harrison	United States	18.09	OR
Triple jump	2 August	Final	Kenny Harrison	United States	18.09	OR

Women

Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
400m	28 July	Final	Marie-José Pérec	France	48.26	OR
5000m	29 July	Final	Wang Junxia	China	14:59.88	OR
400m hurdles	2 August	Final	Deon Hemmings	Jamaica	52.82	OR
10km race walk	27 July	Final	Yelena Nikolayeva	Jamaica	41:49	OR
Triple jump	30 July	Final	Inessa Kravets	Jamaica	15.33	OR

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	13	5	5	23
2	Russia (RUS)	3	6	1	10
3	Germany (GER)	3	1	3	7
4	France (FRA)	3	0	1	4
5	Ethiopia (ETH)	2	0	1	3
6	Canada (CAN)	2	0	0	2
7	Kenya (KEN)	1	4	3	8
8	Jamaica (JAM)	1	3	2	6
9	China (CHN)	1	2	1	4
10	Nigeria (NGR)	1	1	2	4
11	Poland (POL)	1	1	0	2
	South Africa (RSA)	1	1	0	2
13	Ukraine (UKR)	1	0	3	4
14	Czech Republic (CZE)	1	0	2	3
15	Finland (FIN)	1	0	1	2
	Norway (NOR)	1	0	1	2
17	Algeria (ALG)	1	0	0	1
	Bulgaria (BUL)	1	0	0	1
	Burundi (BDI)	1	0	0	1
	Ecuador (ECU)	1	0	0	1
	Hungary (HUN)	1	0	0	1
	Portugal (POR)	1	0	0	1
	Sweden (SWE)	1	0	0	1
	Syria (SYR)	1	0	0	1
25	Great Britain (GBR)	0	4	2	6
26	Belarus (BLR)	0	2	2	4
	Italy (ITA)	0	2	2	4
28	Australia (AUS)	0	2	0	2
	Namibia (NAM)	0	2	0	2
30	Cuba (CUB)	0	1	1	2
	Spain (ESP)	0	1	1	2
32	Bahamas (BAH)	0	1	0	1
	Greece (GRE)	0	1	0	1
	Romania (ROU)	0	1	0	1
	Slovenia (SLO)	0	1	0	1
	South Korea (KOR)	0	1	0	1
	Zambia (ZAM)	0	1	0	1
38	Morocco (MAR)	0	0	2	2
	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	0	0	2	2
40	Austria (AUT)	0	0	1	1
	Brazil (BRA)	0	0	1	1
	Japan (JPN)	0	0	1	1
	Mexico (MEX)	0	0	1	1
	Mozambique (MOZ)	0	0	1	1
	Uganda (UGA)	0	0	1	1
Totals (45 nations)		44	44	44	132

Participating nations

A total of 190 nations participated in the different Athletics events at the 1996 Summer Olympics.