Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The men's 800 metres was an event at the
1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...
in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. There were a total number of 41 participating athletes from 28 nations, with six qualifying heats, three semifinals, and the final held on Saturday July 26, 1980. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by
Steve Ovett Stephen Michael James Ovett, (; born 9 October 1955) is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and set 5 world records for 1500 metres and the ...
of Great Britain, the nation's first gold medal in the men's 800 metres since winning four in a row from 1920 to 1932. It was Great Britain's sixth overall title in the event.


Background

This was the 19th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the 1976 medalists returned, but three finalists did: fifth-place finisher
Steve Ovett Stephen Michael James Ovett, (; born 9 October 1955) is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and set 5 world records for 1500 metres and the ...
of Great Britain, seventh-place finisher
Sriram Singh Honorary Captain Sriram Singh Shekhawat (born 14 November 1948) is a former Indian middle-distance runner. Sriram Singh joined Rajputana Rifles in 1968 where he came under the influence of the coach Ilyas Babar. Babar persuaded him to shift hi ...
of India, and eight-place finisher Carlo Grippo of Italy. Ovett and his countryman
Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medal ...
were the favorites; Coe held the world record, though Ovett had beaten him at the 1978 European Championships (both behind
Olaf Beyer Olaf Beyer (born 4 August 1957 in Grimma) is a retired East German 800 metres runner. Biography He won the gold medal at the 1978 European Championships in Prague. In that race he beat the future world-record holder Sebastian Coe and the future ...
of East Germany, also a challenger in Moscow). The United States-led boycott kept out world number one
Don Paige Donald J. Paige (born October 13, 1956) is an American retired middle-distance runner. Track career In 1979, while a student at Villanova University, Paige ran an indoor American Record of 2:20.3 for 1000m and a few months later ran a persona ...
. Benin, Botswana, Bulgaria, Guinea, Kuwait, Laos, Lesotho, Libya, Sierra Leone, and Syria appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain made its 18th appearance, most among all nations, having had no competitors in the event only in the 1904 Games in St. Louis.


Competition format

The competition used the three-round format that had been in use for most Games since 1912. The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1964 was used for both the first round and semifinals. There were six first-round heats, each with 6 or 7 athletes; the top three runners in each heat as well as the next six fastest overall advanced to the semifinals. There were two semifinals with 8 athletes each; the top two runners in each semifinal as well as the next two fastest overall advanced to the eight-man final.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 31.


Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows. No world or Olympic records were set during the competition.


Schedule

All times are
Moscow Time Moscow Time (MSK, russian: моско́вское вре́мя) is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia, and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second-westernmost of the eleven time zones of Russia. It has b ...
(
UTC+3 UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours later than the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, a time with this offset would be wri ...
)


Results


Round 1

The first round was held on Thursday, 24 July 1980.


Heat 1


Heat 2


Heat 3


Heat 4


Heat 5


Heat 6


Semifinals

The semifinals were held on Friday, 25 July 1980.


Semifinal 1


Semifinal 2


Semifinal 3


Final

This Olympic 800-metre final was a notably tactical one. Already on the first back straight, there was some physical contact in the tightly bunched eight-man field. Britain's Steve Ovett was boxed in and pushed East Germany's Detlef Wagenknecht, in order to get more room and a tactically better place. The first 200 metres were run in about 26 seconds, according to the long-time BBC sports journalist David Coleman. At that point, Brazil's Agberto Guimaraes was leading the race, flanked by Britain's David Warren. On the first home straight, Ovett again tried to force his way to a better position, elbowing Wagenknecht and the Soviet Union's Nikolay Kirov. Unofficially the 400-metre split time was 54.55 seconds. Behind Guimaraes, Warren and Wagenknecht, Kirov and East Germany's Andreas Busse were tied for the fourth place. Ovett and France's José Marajo ran right behind Busse. The strongest pre-race favourite, and the sole world record holder at 800 metres, 1000 metres and the mile, Britain's Sebastian Coe, was running eighth, and almost touched the third lane's edge. At or around 430 or 440 metres, Warren suddenly sprinted past Guimaraes. Kirov rose to the second place, and on the final back straight, Ovett moved to the third place. With over 200 metres to run, Kirov kicked into the lead, followed closely by Ovett. Only at this point, Coe began to sprint hard, moving quickly into the fifth place. On the final bend, Kirov and Ovett were able to maintain their lead over Guimaraes and Coe. In the final straight's first half, Ovett easily passed Kirov while Coe desperately accelerated towards Guimaraes. While he managed to pass the Brazilian, Coe lost valuable time and energy, and he was only able to catch one more runner, Kirov, in the final straight's second half. At the finish line, Ovett was still some three-and-a-half metres ahead of Coe, who finished a disappointed second, just half a metre ahead of the fading Kirov. (See YouTube videos of the 800-metre final; Kenny Moore, Best Efforts; Pat Roberts, The Perfect Distance: Coe and Ovett - The Record-Breaking Rivalry; Juoksija-lehti (The Runner Magazine), Moskovan olympiakirja (The Moscow Olympic Book).)


See also

* 1978 Men's European Championships 800 metres (Prague) * 1982 Men's European Championships 800 metres (Athens) * 1983 Men's World Championships 800 metres (Helsinki) * 1984 Men's Olympic Games 800 metres (Los Angeles) * 1986 Men's European Championships 800 metres (Stuttgart)


References


External links


Results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics - Men's 800 metres M 800 metres at the Olympics Men's events at the 1980 Summer Olympics