The men's 800 metres event at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

as part of the athletics programme was held at

Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. The stadium, which in Australia is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Stad ...

on Saturday 23 September, Monday 25 September, and Wednesday 27 September 2000. Sixty-one athletes from 46 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by

Nils Schumann Nils Schumann (; born 20 May 1978) is a former German athlete, winner of the 800 m at the 2000 Summer Olympics, who retired in 2009. For most of the five years before his retirement he had featured sparingly at an international level due to injur ...

of Germany, the first men's 800 metres championship for a German runner and the first medal in the event for the nation since 1952. Denmark (

Wilson Kipketer Wilson Kosgei Kipketer (born 12 December 1972) is a Danish former middle distance runner. He is the second fastest of all time over 800 meters, setting the world record and breaking his own record two more times all in 1997. He dominated the ...

's silver) and Algeria (

Djabir Saïd-Guerni Aïssa Djabir Saïd-Guerni ( ar, عيسى جبير سعيد قرني, born 29 March 1977 in Algiers) is a retired Algerian athlete who predominantly competed in the 800 metres. Saïd-Guerni competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Oly ...

's bronze) each won their first medal in the men's 800 metres.

Summary

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

upset

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

's world record holder and world champion

. The race was one of the closest in Olympic 800 meter history as the first three were separated by a mere 0.08 second and the first five by 0.32 second. It was suggested Kipketer made a tactical error by not forcing the pace. The final was slow, with

André Bucher André Bucher (born 19 October 1976) is a retired Swiss 800 metres runner who ran for Adidas. He is best known for winning the gold medal at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton in his event. Bucher also won the indoor bronze th ...

leading the first lap in 53.43. Down the back stretch Andrea Longo moved shoulder to shoulder with Bucher and at the 600 meter mark, just under 1:20 Longo dropped his shoulder forcing Bucher into the infield. Longo charged into the lead around the final turn with world record holder in next to last place chasing the notable young kicker

Yuriy Borzakovskiy Yuriy Mikhailovich Borzakovskiy (russian: Юрий Михайлович Борзаковский, , born 12 April 1981) is a Russian middle-distance runner specializing in the 800 metres. Early life Borzakovskiy was born at Kratovo, in the Mos ...

. Kipketer had to go out to lane 4 to try to get around the wall of runners ahead of him with

in lane 5 trying to get around Kipketer. Longo faded with 30 meters to go, with

in perfect position to pick up the pieces, holding off the late rush on the outside to take the gold. For the interference, Longo was disqualified.

Background

This was the 24th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Only two finalists from 1996 returned, but they were the top two: gold medalist

Vebjørn Rodal Vebjørn Rodal (born 16 September 1972) is a retired Norwegian middle distance athlete, who won the gold medal in the 800 m at the 1996 Summer Olympics with the time 1:42.58. Biography Rodal, born and raised in Berkåk, made his international ...

of Norway and silver medalist

Hezekiél Sepeng Hezekiél Sello Sepeng (born 30 June 1974), is a South African middle distance runner who won silver in the Olympic 800 metres final in Atlanta 1996 (behind Vebjørn Rodal), the 1998 Commonwealth Games (behind Japheth Kimutai) and the World C ...

of South Africa.

, who had been prevented from competing in the 1996 Games due to his change of nationality from Kenya to Denmark, was the favorite after having won the past three world championships and broken the world record twice. Challengers included Sepeng, 1998 European champion

of Germany,

of Russia, and

of Switzerland (a semifinalist in Atlanta). Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Macedonia, Moldova, and Uganda appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain made its 23rd appearance, most among all nations, having had no competitors in the event only in the 1904 Games in St. Louis.

Qualification

Each

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run 1:46.30 or faster during the qualification period. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run 1:47.20 or faster could be entered.

Competition format

The men's 800 metres again used a three-round format, the most common format since 1912 though there had been variations. The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1964 was used for the first two rounds. There were eight first-round heats, each with 7 or 8 athletes; the top two runners in each heat as well as the next eight fastest overall advanced to the semifinals. There were three semifinals with 8 athletes each (except that one had an extra runner due to an advancement by obstruction rule in the first round); the top two runners in each semifinal and the next two fastest overall advanced to the eight-man final.Official Report, Results Book for Athletics.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows. No world or Olympic records were set during the competition. The following national records were established during the competition:

Schedule

All times are

Australian Eastern Standard Time Australia uses three main time zones: Australian Western Standard Time (AWST; UTC+08:00), Australian Central Standard Time (ACST; UTC+09:30), and Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST; UTC+10:00). Time is regulated by the individual state ...

(

UTC+10 UTC+10:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +10:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Brisbane, Gold Coast, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Port Moresby, Dededo, Saipan'' North Asia *Russia – ...

)

Results

Round 1

The first round was held on Saturday, 23 September 2000.

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Heat 5

Heat 6

Heat 7

Heat 8

Overall results for round 1

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Semifinal 3

Overall results for semifinals

Final

Source: Official Report of the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics

References

External links

Men's 800m final
– IAAF report {{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics - Men's 800 Metres Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics 800 metres at the Olympics Men's events at the 2000 Summer Olympics