Stephen Cram, is a British retired track and field athlete. Along with fellow Britons Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, he was one of the world's dominant middle distance runners during the 1980s. Nicknamed "The Jarrow Arrow", after his home town, Cram set world records in the 1,500 m, 2,000 m, and the mile during a 19-day period in the summer of 1985. He was the first man to run 1,500 m under 3 minutes and 30 seconds. He won the 1,500 m gold medal at the 1983 World Championships and the 1,500 m silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games.
Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe,, often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British sports administrator, former politician and retired track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medals at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984. He set nine outdoor and three indoor world records in middle-distance track events – including, in 1979, setting three world records in the space of 41 days – and the world record he set in the 800 metres in 1981 remained unbroken until 1997. Coe's rivalries with fellow Britons Steve Ovett and Steve Cram dominated middle-distance racing for much of the 1980s.
Stephen Michael James Ovett, 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. Ovett set five world records for 1500 metres and the mile run, and a world record at two miles. He won 45 consecutive 1500 and mile races from 1977 to 1980.
The women's 800 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 20 to 23.
Olaf Beyer is a former East German 800 metres runner.
Thomas Wessinghage is a German former middle- and long-distance runner who won the 1982 European Championships' final over 5000 metres beating the British world-record holder David Moorcroft. Because he was already thirty at the time, and had been an international-level runner for a decade, this victory was a long-awaited one for him. He admitted that he decided to run the 5,000 metres instead of the 1,500 metres, because he lost to Ovett and Coe so often in the shorter distance. The fairly slow pace of the 1982 European Athletics Championships 5,000-metre final favoured Wessinghage, because he was in top form - having set a European record at 2,000 metres shortly before the Championships - and because he was the fastest 1,500-metre runner in the final, having run that distance in 3 minutes 31.6 seconds in 1980. Shortly after he started his final sprint with over 250 metres to go, Wessinghage moved into a decisive lead, stretching it into five metres by 4,800 metres and almost doubling it by 4,900 metres.
Peter Elliott is a former middle-distance runner from the United Kingdom. During his career, he won the gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, the silver medal in the 1500 metres at the 1988 Olympic Games, and the silver medal in the 800 metres at the 1987 World Championships.
Jürgen Straub is a former East German middle distance runner who specialized in the 1500 metres.
Hans-Peter Ferner is a (West) German former middle-distance runner who won the gold medal over 800 m at the 1982 European Championships in Athletics in Athens where he unexpectedly defeated world-record holder Sebastian Coe. Those were Ferner's second and last European Athletics Championships, because he had competed already in the 1978 European Championships in Prague, where he had been eliminated in the 800-metre heats or semifinals. Coe had suffered from injuries and a glandular sickness which made him underachieve in Athens.
Nikolay Ivanovich Kirov is a Soviet track and field runner who mainly competed in the men's 800 metres.
Peter Hoffmann is an Edinburgh author and former international sportsman.
The men's 1500 metres was an event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. The final was held on August 11, 1984. Fifty-nine athletes from 40 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.87 seconds by Sebastian Coe of Great Britain, the first man to successfully defend an Olympic 1500 metres title. Steve Cram's silver made it the first time a nation had gone 1–2 in the event since Great Britain had done it in 1920. José Manuel Abascal's bronze was Spain's first medal in the event.
The men's 800 metres event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles took place between 3 and 6 August. Sixty-nine athletes from 55 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.64 seconds by Joaquim Cruz of Brazil, the nation's first medal in the men's 800 metres. Sebastian Coe of Great Britain repeated his silver-medal performance from 1980, the eighth man to win two medals in the event.
The men's 800 metres was an event at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union. 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 0.5 seconds by Steve Ovett 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.
The men's 1,500m metres was an event at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union. The final was held on Friday 1 August 1980. Forty athletes from 29 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.4 seconds by Sebastian Coe of Great Britain, the nation's first championship in the event since back-to-back wins surrounding World War I in 1912 and 1920, and first medal of any color since 1932. East Germany took its first medal in the 1500 metres since starting to compete separately, with Jürgen Straub's silver.
Donald J. Paige is an American retired middle-distance runner.
Dragan Zdravković is a Serbian former middle-distance runner. He represented Yugoslavia in international competition from the late 1970s to 1980s, and was a finalist at the 1980 Summer Olympics. Zdravković holds multiple outdoor and indoor Serbian records in athletics.
Charles Da'Vall Grice, informally known as Charlie Grice, is a British middle-distance athlete.
The IAAF Golden Events were a sporadic series of twelve athletics events organised by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) from 1978 to 1982. Aside from the inaugural event in Tokyo, the contests were held in Europe and were attached to independent track and field meetings. The purpose of the events was to raise the profile of the sport outside of Olympic competition. Marking the growing professionalism in athletics, a significant prize pot was given to the winner of the event – a move designed to attract the sport's top athletes to compete against each other at the same meeting. The inaugural prize was an 18-carat gold trophy worth 9,500 US dollars. All twelve events were for men, reflecting their position as the most prominent sex during that period.
Detlef Wagenknecht is a German former middle-distance runner. Representing East Germany, he was a finalist in men's 800 metres at the 1980 Summer Olympics and the 1982 European Championships and placed third at the 1981 IAAF World Cup.
