Athletics 1996

Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics was held from 26 July to 3 August 1996 at the Centennial Olympic Stadium.

For the first time in history, the women's triple jump was added to the program. Furthermore, the women's 3000 metres expanded its distance to 5000 metres, an equivalent to those on the men's side.

Medal Table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	13	5	5	23
2	Russia	3	6	1	10
3	Germany	3	1	3	7
4	France	3	0	1	4
5	Ethiopia	2	0	1	3
6	Canada	2	0	0	2
7	Kenya	1	4	3	8
8	Jamaica	1	3	2	6
9	China	1	2	1	4
10	Nigeria	1	1	2	4
11	Poland	1	1	0	2
	South Africa	1	1	0	2
13	Ukraine	1	0	3	4
14	Czech Republic	1	0	2	3
15	Finland	1	0	1	2
	Norway	1	0	1	2
17	Algeria	1	0	0	1
	Bulgaria	1	0	0	1
	Burundi	1	0	0	1
	Ecuador	1	0	0	1
	Hungary	1	0	0	1
	Portugal	1	0	0	1
	Sweden	1	0	0	1
	Syria	1	0	0	1
25	Great Britain	0	4	2	6
26	Belarus	0	2	2	4
	Italy	0	2	2	4
28	Australia	0	2	0	2
	Namibia	0	2	0	2
30	Cuba	0	1	1	2
	Spain	0	1	1	2
32	Bahamas	0	1	0	1
	Greece	0	1	0	1
	Romania	0	1	0	1
	Slovenia	0	1	0	1
	South Korea	0	1	0	1
	Zambia	0	1	0	1
38	Morocco	0	0	2	2
	Trinidad and Tobago	0	0	2	2
40	Austria	0	0	1	1
	Brazil	0	0	1	1
	Japan	0	0	1	1
	Mexico	0	0	1	1
	Mozambique	0	0	1	1
	Uganda	0	0	1	1

Medalists

Men

Event
100 m	Donovan Bailey	Frank Fredericks	Ato Boldon
200 m	Michael Johnson	Frank Fredericks	Ato Boldon
400 m	Michael Johnson	Roger Black	Davis Kamoga
800 m	Vebjorn Rodal	Hezekiel Sepeng	Fred Onyancha
1500 m	Noureddine Morceli	Fermin Cacho	Stephen Kipkorir
5000 m	Venuste Niyongabo	Paul Bitok	Khalid Boulami
10000 m	Haile Gebrselassie	Paul Tergat	Salah Hissou
Marathon	Josia Thugwane	Lee Bong-ju	Eric Wainaina
110 m hurdles	Allen Johnson	Mark Crear	Florian Schwarthoff
400 m hurdles	Derrick Adkins	Samuel Matete	Calvin Davis
3000 m steeplechase	Joseph Keter	Moses Kiptanui	Alessandro Lambruschini
4x100 m	Canada Donovan Bailey Carlton Chambers Robert Esmie Glenroy Gilbert Bruny Surin	United States Jon Drummond Tim Harden Michael Marsh Dennis Mitchell Tim Montgomery	Brazil Edson Ribeiro Andre da Silva Arnaldo da Silva Robson da Silva
4x400 m	United States Alvin Harrison Anthuan Maybank Derek Mills Jason Rouser LaMont Smith	Great Britain Jamie Baulch Roger Black Mark Hylton Du'aine Ladejo Mark Richardson Iwan Thomas	Jamaica Dennis Blake Davian Clarke Gregory Haughton Roxbert Martin Michael McDonald Garth Robinson
20 km walk	Jefferson Perez Quezada	Ilya Markov	Bernardo Segura
50 km walk	Robert Korzeniowski	Mikhail Shchennikov	Valentin Massana
High jump	Charles Austin	Artur Partyka	Steve Smith
Pole vault	Jean Galfione	Igor Trandenkov	Andrei Tivontchik
Long jump	Carl Lewis	James Beckford	Joe Greene
Triple jump	Kenny Harrison	Jonathan Edwards	Yoelbi Quesada
Shot put	Randy Barnes	John Godina	Oleksandr Bagach
Discus throw	Lars Riedel	Vladimir Dubrovshchik	Vasiliy Kaptyukh
Hammer throw	Balazs Kiss	Lance Deal	Oleksiy Krykun
Javelin throw	Jan Zelezny	Steve Backley	Seppo Raty
Decathlon	Dan O'Brien	Frank Busemann	Tomas Dvorak
1500 m wheelchair	Claude Issorat	Scot Hollenbeck	Franz Nietuspach

Women

Event
100 m	Gail Devers	Merlene Ottey	Gwen Torrence
200 m	Marie-Jose Perec	Merlene Ottey	Mary Onyali
400 m	Marie-Jose Perec	Catherine Freeman	Falilat Ogunkoya
800 m	Svetlana Masterkova	Ana Fidelia Quirot	Maria Lurdes Mutola
1500 m	Svetlana Masterkova	Gabriela Szabo	Theresia Kiesl
5000 m	Wang Junxia	Pauline Konga	Roberta Brunet
10000 m	Fernanda Ribeiro	Wang Junxia	Gete Wami
Marathon	Fatuma Roba	Valentina Yegorova	Yuko Arimori
100 m hurdles	Ludmila Engquist	Brigita Bukovec	Patricia Girard-Leno
400 m hurdles	Deon Hemmings	Kim Batten	Tonja Buford-Bailey
4x100 m	United States Gail Devers Chryste Gaines Carlette Guidry Inger Miller Gwen Torrence	Bahamas Eldece Clarke Pauline Davis Debbie Ferguson Sevatheda Fynes Chandra Sturrup	Jamaica Juliet Cuthbert Michelle Freeman Andria Lloyd Nikole Mitchell Merlene Ottey Gillian Russell
4x400 m	United States Kim Graham Maicel Malone Jearl Miles Rochelle Stevens Linetta Wilson	Nigeria Bisi Afolabi Falilat Ogunkoya Charity Opara Fatima Yusuf	Germany Grit Breuer Linda Kisabaka Uta Rohlaender Anja Rucker
10 km walk	Yelena Nikolayeva	Elisabetta Perrone	Wang Yan
High jump	Stefka Kostadinova	Niki Bakogianni	Inha Babakova
Long jump	Chioma Ajunwa	Fiona May	Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Triple jump	Inessa Kravets	Inna Lasovskaya	Sarka Kasparkova
Shot put	Astrid Kumbernuss	Sui Xinmei	Irina Khurodozhkina
Discus throw	Ilke Wyludda	Natalya Sadova	Ellina Zvereva
Javelin throw	Heli Rantanen	Louise McPaul	Elsa Katrine Hattestad
Heptathlon	Ghada Shouaa	Natalya Sazanovich	Denise Lewis
800 m wheelchair	Louise Sauvage	Jean Driscoll	Cheri Becerra

Trivia

• There were 2053 total athletes from 191 countries.
• Rachida Mahamane was the youngest participant with 14 years and 336 days.
• Htay Myint was the oldest participant with 43 years and 21 days.
• 72 participants were chosen to be a flag bearer at the opening ceremony, the highest number out of all sports.
• Kenya won its only 8 medals of Atlanta 1996.
• Jamaica won its only 6 medals of Atlanta 1996.
• Ethiopia won its only 3 medals of Atlanta 1996.
• Morocco won its only 2 medals of Atlanta 1996.
• Bahamas, Burundi, Ecuador, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, and Zambia won their only medals of Atlanta 1996.
• Burundi, Ecuador, and Syria won their first-ever Olympic gold medal.
• Nigeria won its first-ever gold medal in the sport.
• Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine won their first-ever medals in the sport since the dissolution from the Soviet Union.
• Czech Republic, Mozambique, and Slovenia won their first-ever medals in the sport.
• South Africa won its first gold medal in the sport since Helsinki 1952.
• Norway won its first gold medal in the sport since Melbourne 1956.
• Hungary and Sweden won their first gold medal in the sport since Montreal 1976.
• Finland won its first gold medal in the sport since Seoul 1988.
• Austria and Uganda won their first medal in the sport since Munich 1972.

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