[2] The event was won by Félix Sánchez of the Dominican Republic, the nation's first medal in the men's 400 metres hurdles.

In the final, a false start had been accredited to at least three athletes including Dominican Republic's Félix Sánchez, a solid pre-race favorite in this event.

Nonetheless, he sped out of the blocks, and quickly opened his lead over the American and fastest pre-Olympic entrant James Carter on the sixth hurdle.

As Carter went backwards in the last two hurdles, Sanchez left the field trailing to quickly move again to the front and maintained it to a blazing finish in his seasonal best at 47.63 seconds, extending his winning streak on his forty-third race since the previous defeat in 2001.

[3] Behind him, Jamaican hurdler Danny McFarlane and delighted Frenchman Naman Keïta edged Carter out to a ragged fourth to deny the American supremacy on the podium for the first time at a non-boycotted Games since 1968, giving both of them the silver and bronze respectively.

For the men's 400 metres hurdles, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 49.20 seconds or faster during the qualification period.