Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles

Dayron Robles was the clear favorite, having set the world record just two months earlier. He didn't disappoint leading the semi-final round by almost a tenth of a second, a huge margin on this level. In the final, Robles was out first, clearly ahead by the first hurdle; he pulled away to a clear victory. The two Americans, David Payne and David Oliver were clearly separating from the others for second place, Payne slightly ahead of Oliver, with only Ladji Doucouré within a stride of Oliver. Doucouré looked to be faster, and on the final dash to the finish line was clearly gaining on Oliver, who himself was gaining on Payne to make the finish much closer. Robles more than doubled his margin from the semifinal round, almost a quarter of a second ahead of Payne.

This was the 26th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Four finalists from 2004 returned: gold medalist Liu Xiang of China, silver medalist Terrence Trammell of the United States, fourth-place finisher Maurice Wignall of Jamaica, and eighth-place finisher Ladji Doucouré of France; fifth-place finisher Staņislavs Olijars of Latvia was entered but did not start. Since winning the gold in 2004, Liu had broken the world record in 2006 and won the world championship in 2007. However, Dayron Robles of Cuba had bettered Liu's mark two months before the Games and was favored over the home country hero. Further, there were rumors of Liu being injured.[3]

Belarus and the Cayman Islands each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 25th appearance, most of any nation (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was able to enter up to three entrants providing they had met the A qualifying standard (13.55) in the qualifying period (1 January 2007 to 23 July 2008). NOCs were also permitted to enter one athlete providing he had met the B standard (13.72) in the same qualifying period.[4] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

The competition used the four-round format previously used in 1960 and since 1988, still using the eight-man semifinals and finals used since 1964. The "fastest loser" system, also introduced in 1964, was used in the first round.

The first round consisted of six heats, with 7 or 8 hurdlers each. The top four hurdlers in each heat, along with the eight next fastest overall, advanced to the quarterfinals. The 32 quarterfinalists were divided into four heats of 8 hurdlers each, with the top three in each heat, and the four next fastest overall, advancing. The 16 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals of 8 hurdlers each; the top four hurdlers in each advanced to the 8-man final.[3][5]

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

World record	Dayron Robles (CUB)	12.87	Ostrava, Czech Republic	12 June 2008
Olympic record	Liu Xiang (CHN)	12.91	Athens, Greece	27 August 2004

No new world or Olympic records were set for this event. The following national records were set during the competition:

Nation	Athlete	Round	Time
Barbados	Ryan Brathwaite	Heat 3	13.38
Cayman Islands	Ronald Forbes	Heat 3	13.59
Greece	Konstadinos Douvalidis	Quarterfinal 1	13.46
South Korea	Lee Jung-Joon	Quarterfinal 1	13.55

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)