Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres hurdles

The women's 100 metres hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 17–19 August at the Beijing National Stadium.

The qualifying standards were 12.96 s (A standard) and 13.11 s (B standard).

Coming into the Olympics, Lolo Jones had the fastest time of the year, 12.45 in the semi-finals of the U.S. Olympic Trials. Jones had also won those trials convincingly in a wind aided 12.29 (coming within .08 of the 20-year-old world record).

The first round was distinguished by five runners finishing within .03 of each other. In the semi-final, Jones separated from the field by .19, setting a wind legal personal best 12.43 and a new fastest time of the year.

In the final, Sally McLellan was out fast, clearly the first over the first hurdle. By the fourth hurdle she had almost a full stride lead over the wall of competitors across the track behind her, with Jones starting to gain a slight advantage. But McLellan couldn't hold the lead. Over the next two hurdles, Jones stormed by, with the rest of the field gaining on McLellan. Dawn Harper was starting to separate ahead of the wall. Jones continued to pull away to a full stride on Harper as McLellan fell back to run even with the wall. At the ninth hurdle, Jones didn't get her lead leg high enough to clear the barrier. Her foot hit the slat square on. She rode the hurdle to the ground, landing awkwardly and losing her forward momentum. She had to jump long strides just to clear the final hurdle but was losing ground on every step. Harper took the hurdles cleanly and held her edge to cross the line for gold. Behind her, McLellan, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, Damu Cherry, Delloreen Ennis-London and Brigitte Foster-Hylton (the wall) hit the line together. .02 separated second through sixth with McLellan getting the photo finish nod over Lopes-Schliep for the medals. Four years later Harper and McLellan (under her married name of Pearson) would also get gold and silver, but in the opposite order.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows:

No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

Results

Round 1

Qualifying rule: first two of each heat (Q) plus the six fastest times (q) qualified.

Rank	Heat	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	1	Josephine Onyia	Template:FlagIOC	12.68	DSQ
2	1	Susanna Kallur	Template:FlagIOC	12.68	Q
3	2	Vonette Dixon	Template:FlagIOC	12.69	Q, SB
3	5	Brigitte Foster-Hylton	Template:FlagIOC	12.69	Q
5	4	LoLo Jones	Template:FlagIOC	12.71	Q
6	5	Dawn Harper	Template:FlagIOC	12.73	Q
7	2	Priscilla Lopes-Schliep	Template:FlagIOC	12.75	Q
8	3	Delloreen Ennis-London	Template:FlagIOC	12.82	Q
9	3	Sally McLellan	Template:FlagIOC	12.83	Q
10	4	Anay Tejeda	Template:FlagIOC	12.84	Q
11	2	Damu Cherry	Template:FlagIOC	12.91	q
12	1	Nevin Yanit	Template:FlagIOC	12.94	q
13	2	Carolin Nytra	Template:FlagIOC	12.95	q
14	3	Sarah Claxton	Template:FlagIOC	12.97	q
15	4	Reïna-Flor Okori	Template:FlagIOC	12.98	q
15	1	Aurelia Trywiańska-Kollasch	Template:FlagIOC	12.98	q
17	5	Anastassiya Pilipenko	Template:FlagIOC	12.99
18	5	Aleesha Barber	Template:FlagIOC	13.01	NR
19	4	Christina Vukicevic	Template:FlagIOC	13.05	PB
20	4	Tatyana Dektyareva	Template:FlagIOC	13.05
21	5	Yevgeniya Snihur	Template:FlagIOC	13.06
22	3	Yuliya Kondakova	Template:FlagIOC	13.07
23	3	Angela Whyte	Template:FlagIOC	13.11
24	1	Micol Cattaneo	Template:FlagIOC	13.13
25	2	Aleksandra Antonova	Template:FlagIOC	13.18
25	1	Lucie Škrobáková	Template:FlagIOC	13.18
27	4	Natalya Ivoninskaya	Template:FlagIOC	13.20
28	2	Derval O'Rourke	Template:FlagIOC	13.22
29	5	Nadine Faustin-Parker	Template:FlagIOC	13.25
30	4	Toyin Augustus	Template:FlagIOC	13.34
31	1	Katsiaryna Paplauskaya	Template:FlagIOC	13.39
32	3	Yenima Arencibia	Template:FlagIOC	13.43
33	2	Maíla Machado	Template:FlagIOC	13.45
34	5	Dedeh Erawati	Template:FlagIOC	13.49	NR
35	3	Flóra Redoúmi	Template:FlagIOC	13.56
36	3	Edit Vári	Template:FlagIOC	13.59
37	1	Miriam Bobková	Template:FlagIOC	13.65
38	2	Fadwa Al Bouza	Template:FlagIOC	14.24	SB
39	4	Jeimy Bernardez	Template:FlagIOC	14.29
	5	Fatmata Fofanah	Template:FlagIOC

Semifinals

Qualification: First 4 in each heat and the next fastest advance to the Final.

Rank	Heat	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	1	LoLo Jones	Template:FlagIOC	0.172	12.43	Q, PB
2	2	Damu Cherry	Template:FlagIOC	0.189	12.62	Q
3	2	Dawn Harper	Template:FlagIOC	0.191	12.66	Q
4	1	Delloreen Ennis-London	Template:FlagIOC	0.145	12.67	Q
5	1	Priscilla Lopes-Schliep	Template:FlagIOC	0.159	12.68	Q
6	1	Sally McLellan	Template:FlagIOC	0.140	12.70	Q
7	2	Brigitte Foster-Hylton	Template:FlagIOC	0.162	12.76	Q
8	2	Sarah Claxton	Template:FlagIOC	0.145	12.84	Q
9	2	Vonette Dixon	Template:FlagIOC	0.237	12.86
9	1	Josephine Onyia	Template:FlagIOC	0.203	12.86	DSQ
11	1	Aurelia Trywiańska-Kollasch	Template:FlagIOC	0.118	12.96
12	1	Carolin Nytra	Template:FlagIOC	0.144	12.99
13	2	Reïna-Flor Okori	Template:FlagIOC	0.153	13.05
14	1	Nevin Yanit	Template:FlagIOC	0.201	13.28
	2	Susanna Kallur	Template:FlagIOC	0.198	DNF
	2	Anay Tejeda	Template:FlagIOC	0.156	DNF

Final

Position	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
	6	Dawn Harper	Template:FlagIOC	0.193	12.54	PB
	3	Sally McLellan	Template:FlagIOC	0.138	12.64
	8	Priscilla Lopes-Schliep	Template:FlagIOC	0.174	12.64
4	7	Damu Cherry	Template:FlagIOC	0.239	12.65
5	5	Delloreen Ennis-London	Template:FlagIOC	0.151	12.65
6	9	Brigitte Foster-Hylton	Template:FlagIOC	0.167	12.66
7	4	LoLo Jones	Template:FlagIOC	0.185	12.72
8	2	Sarah Claxton	Template:FlagIOC	0.163	12.94

WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)