The sprint hurdles at the Summer Olympics have been contested over a variety of distances at the multi-sport event.

The fastest time recorded at the Olympics for the men's 200 m hurdles was 24.6 seconds by 1904 winner Harry Hillman.

The women's 100 m hurdles world record has been broken only once, by Annelie Ehrhardt at the inaugural 1972 Olympic final.

Historically, hurdlers also competed in other individual sprinting events (Harrison Dillard and Fanny Blankers-Koen were also 100 metres Olympic champions), but this became rare after the 1950s.

For the top two finishers, American hurdler Robert Leavitt and British athlete Alfred Healey, this was the peak of their respective careers.

[8] Bronze medalist Vincent Duncker of Germany was the joint 100 metres world record holder at the time.