| Final | time | L | 200m | 400m | Age | | 1. Marie-Jose Perec |  FRA | 48.25s OR | 3 | 23.25s | 25.00s | 28 | | 2. Catherine Freeman |  AUS | 48.63s | 4 | 23.47s | 25.16s | 23 | | 3. Falilat Ogunkoya |  NGR | 49.10s | 5 | 23.54s | 25.56s | 27 | | 4. Pauline Davis |  BAH | 49.28s | 2 | 23.23s | 26.05s | 30 | | 5. Jearl Miles |  USA | 49.55s | 8 | 23.97s | 25.58s | 29 | | 6. Fatima Yusuf | NGR | 49.77s | 6 | 23.30s | 26.47s | 25 | | 7. Sandie Richards |  JAM | 50.45s | 7 | 23.64s | 26.81s | 27 | | 8. Grit Breuer |  GER | 50.71s | 1 | 23.76s | 26.95s | 24 |
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| | Venue: Centennial Olympic Stadium. | | 49 competitors from 35 nations. |
|
| World record: 47.60s Marita Koch, East Germany Canberra, Australia October 6, 1985 | | Olympic record: 48.65s Olga Bryzgina, Soviet Union Seoul, South Korea September 26, 1988 |
Pérec, the World and Olympic Champion, was the big favourite, but
coasted the first two rounds before opening up in the semi-finals, running
49.19 after passing 200m in 23.7. Behind her Ogunkoya (49.57),
Davis (49.85) and Miles (50.21) all ran quicker than Freeman, winner
of the other semi-final in 50.32.
In the final Davis ran even with Pérec to halfway, and the reigning
champion surged at 250m, virtually the same moment as Freeman, who
closed to within a metre of Pérec coming off the final curve. Pérec’s
long stride and strength eventually wore Freeman down in the last 25m.
The strong-running Ogunkoya slipped by Davis just before the end.
These four plus Miles all ran lifetime bests, as Yusuf became the first
woman to run under 50 seconds in sixth place.
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| Splits | 300m | | Pérec | 35.0s | | Freeman | 35.1s | | Ogunkoya | 35.5s | | Davis | 35.4s | | Miles | 36.1s | | Yusuf | 35.7s | | Richards | 36.1s | | Breuer | 36.3s |
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| | | First 4 from each of 2 Semis advanced to Final. |
| Semi 1 | time | L | | 1. Catherine Freeman | AUS | 50.32s | 3 | | 2. Fatima Yusuf | NGR | 50.36s | 6 | | 3. Sandie Richards | JAM | 50.74s | 8 | | 4. Grit Breuer | GER | 50.75s | 4 | | 5. Kim Graham | USA | 51.13s | 2 | | 6. Maicel Malone | USA | 51.16s | 5 | | 7. Merlene Frazer | JAM | 51.18s | 1 | | 8. Bisi Afolabi | NGR | 51.40s | 7 |
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| Semi 2 | time | L | | 1. Marie-Jose Perec | FRA | 49.19s | 5 | | 2. Falilat Ogunkoya | NGR | 49.57s | 4 | | 3. Pauline Davis | BAH | 49.85s | 3 | | 4. Jearl Miles | USA | 50.21s | 6 | | 5. Svetlana Goncharenko |  RUS | 50.84s | 7 | | 6. Sandra Myers |  ESP | 51.42s | 8 | | 7. Renee Poetschka | AUS | 51.49s | 2 | | 8. Juliet Campbell | JAM | 51.65s | 1 |
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| | | First 4 from each of 4 Quarters advanced to Semi-Finals. |
| Quarter 1 | time | L | | 1. Catherine Freeman | AUS | 50.43s | 3 | | 2. Grit Breuer | GER | 50.57s | 4 | | 3. Kim Graham | USA | 50.96s | 6 | | 4. Bisi Afolabi | NGR | 51.07s | 5 | | 5. Hana Benesova |  CZE | 51.30s | 7 | | 6. Olga Kotlyarova | RUS | 51.36s | 2 | | 7. Donna Fraser |  GBR | 51.58s | 8 | | 8. Dora Kyriakou |  CYP | 52.26s | 1 |
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| Quarter 2 | time | L | | 1. Marie-Jose Perec | FRA | 51.00s | 3 | | 2. Pauline Davis | BAH | 51.08s | 5 | | 3. Juliet Campbell | JAM | 51.17s | 4 | | 4. Svetlana Goncharenko | RUS | 51.35s | 6 | | 5. Maria Magnolia Figueiredo |  BRA | 51.98s | 2 | | 6. Ladonna Antoine |  CAN | 52.03s | 8 | | 7. Grace-Ann Dinkins |  LBR | 52.53s | 7 | | 8. Yana Manuylova |  UKR | 52.82s | 1 |
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| Quarter 3 | time | L | | 1. Falilat Ogunkoya | NGR | 50.65s | 5 | | 2. Jearl Miles | USA | 50.84s | 6 | | 3. Sandie Richards | JAM | 51.22s | 4 | | 4. Renee Poetschka | AUS | 51.33s | 2 | | 5. Virna de Angeli |  ITA | 51.77s | 3 | | 6. Anna Kozak |  BLR | 52.14s | 8 | | 7. Diane Francis |  SKN | 52.24s | 7 | | 8. Nadezda Kostovalova | CZE | 53.21s | 1 |
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| Quarter 4 | time | L | | 1. Maicel Malone | USA | 51.16s | 6 | | 2. Fatima Yusuf | NGR | 51.27s | 1 | | 3. Sandra Myers | ESP | 51.53s | 3 | | 4. Merlene Frazer | JAM | 51.57s | 7 | | 5. Helena Fuchsova | CZE | 51.70s | 5 | | 6. Phylis Smith | GBR | 52.16s | 4 | | 7. Patrizia Spuri | ITA | 52.78s | 8 | | 8. Lee Naylor | AUS | 53.75s | 2 |
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|
Heats - Friday 27th, July | | First 4 from each of 7 Heats and Best 4 times advanced to Quarter-Finals. |
| Heat 1 | time | L | | 1. Pauline Davis | BAH | 51.00s | 3 | | 2. Svetlana Goncharenko | RUS | 51.07s | 1 | | 3. Phylis Smith | GBR | 51.29s | 8 | | 4. Renee Poetschka | AUS | 51.55s | 5 | | 5. Dora Kyriakou | CYP | 52.09s | 4 | | 6. Grace Birungi |  UGA | 53.12s | 2 | | 7. Ahamada Haoulata |  COM | 1:03.44 | 7 |
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| Heat 2 | time | L | | 1. Maicel Malone | USA | 51.28s | 3 | | 2. Juliet Campbell | JAM | 51.57s | 2 | | 3. Grace-Ann Dinkins | LBR | 51.83s | 1 | | 4. Olga Kotlyarova | RUS | 51.90s | 4 | | 5. Hana Benesova | CZE | 52.28s | 6 | | 6. Yana Manuylova | UKR | 52.51s | 5 | | 7. Ameerah Bello |  ISV | 53.40s | 8 |
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| Heat 3 | time | L | | 1. Kim Graham | USA | 51.70s | 5 | | 2. Helena Fuchsova | CZE | 51.71s | 7 | | 3. Fatima Yusuf | NGR | 52.25s | 2 | | 4. Lee Naylor | AUS | 52.53s | 1 | | 5. Olena Rurak | UKR | 52.92s | 3 | | 6. Marina Zivkovic |  YUG | 53.10s | 6 | | 7. Melrose Mansaray |  SLE | 54.37s | 4 |
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| Heat 4 | time | L | | 1. Virna de Angeli | ITA | 51.68s | 5 | | 2. Sandie Richards | JAM | 51.79s | 7 | | 3. Marie-Jose Perec | FRA | 51.82s | 3 | | 4. Ladonna Antoine | CAN | 51.99s | 6 | | 5. Ngozi Mwanamwambwa |  ZAM | 54.12s | 2 | | 6. Mercy Addy |  GHA | 54.92s | 1 | | -. Ximena Restrepo |  COL | DNF | 4 |
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| Heat 5 | time | L | | 1. Jearl Miles | USA | 51.96s | 2 | | 2. Grit Breuer | GER | 52.20s | 6 | | 3. Merlene Frazer | JAM | 52.20s | 1 | | 4. Maria Magnolia Figueiredo | BRA | 52.41s | 7 | | 5. Diane Francis | SKN | 52.48s | 5 | | 6. Melissa Straker |  BAR | 52.92s | 3 | | 7. Guilhermina Cruz |  ANG | 55.42s | 8 |
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| Heat 6 | time | L | | 1. Sandra Myers | ESP | 52.54s | 5 | | 2. Falilat Ogunkoya | NGR | 52.65s | 2 | | 3. Donna Fraser | GBR | 52.78s | 3 | | 4. Nadezda Kostovalova | CZE | 53.03s | 8 | | 5. Svetlana Bodritskaya |  KAZ | 53.24s | 1 | | 6. Xiujie Du |  CHN | 53.95s | 4 | | 7. Arely Franco |  ESA | 1:01:38 | 7 |
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| Heat 7 | time | L | | 1. Bisi Afolabi | NGR | 51.80s | 8 | | 2. Catherine Freeman | AUS | 51.99s | 4 | | 3. Anna Kozak | BLR | 52.39s | 6 | | 4. Patrizia Spuri | ITA | 52.45s | 1 | | 5. Zoila Stewart |  CRC | 52.66s | 3 | | 6. Corinne Simasotchi |  SUI | 53.69s | 2 | | 7. Denise Ouabangui |  CAF | 55.74s | 7 |
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