These are the official results of the women's 800 metres event at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. There were a total of 36 participating athletes, with five qualifying heats.

Race description

Favorites for the title were 1991 Tokyo World Championships gold medallist

Liliya Nurutdinova Liliya Foatovna Nurutdinova (russian: Лилия Фоатовна Нурутдинова; born 15 December 1963) is a retired middle-distance runner who represented the Soviet Union and the Unified Team. Her greatest achievement was the 1992 Ol ...

for the Unified Team,

Ana Quirot Ana Fidelia Quirot Moré (; born March 23, 1963) is a former track and field athlete from Cuba, who specialised in the 800 metres but was also successful over 400 m. At 800 metres, she is a two-time World Champion (1995, 1997) and a two-time Olym ...

(Cuba), and Africa's hopeful, 19-year old

Maria Mutola Maria de Lurdes Mutola ( ; born 27 October 1972) is a retired female track and field athlete from Mozambique who specialised in the 800 metres running event. She is only the fourth female track and field athlete to compete at six Olympic Games. ...

(Mozambique). Other potential rivals like the former East German athletes Sigrun Wodars (as Sigrun Grau, after a divorce) and Christine Wachtel, the one-two finish at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

in Seoul, had been eliminated in the preliminaries. The fastest semi-final was won by Nurutdinova. Dutch runner

Ellen van Langen Ellen Gezina Maria van Langen (born 9 February 1966) is a Dutch former middle distance runner, who specialised in the 800 metres. A talented but injury-ridden athlete, she was the 1992 Olympic Champion for the women's 800 meters. She is now ...

had set the fastest time of the season prior to the Games. In the final, fearing Van Langen's final sprint, her main competitor, a confident Nurutdinova, set a rapid pace, running the first lap in a very fast time of 55.73, with Van Langen only in 6th position. Pressured by Mutola, Quirot and

Ella Kovacs Ella Kovacs (born 11 December 1964) is a retired Romanian middle-distance runner of Hungarian descent who specialized in the 800 metres.

(Romania), Nurutdinova led the final from the start. Entering the final stretch she had a slight lead, but Van Langen, only fifth at 600 meters, moved through on the inside. With Nurutdinova moving away from the curb to block her challengers, Van Langen in the last 50m passed – still on the inside – to win a surprise victory in a time of 1:55.54, beating Nurutdinova (silver) and Quirot (bronze). Van Langen later explained the secret of her success. “I think what I could do well is I could die very well in a race and still continue,” she said. “That is very hard, because it hurts running the 800 meters. You have to overcome some boundaries in yourself to continue when it hurts like hell. I was good at it. If the Olympic race would have been run by each athlete individual and the fastest time was the winner I would not have won,” she added. “I was also good in tactics, looking around me and taking the right decisions.”