Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

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Men's 800 metres
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
Venue Estadi Olimpíc de Montjuïc
DatesAugust 1–5
Competitors59 from 49 nations
Winning time1:43.66
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg William Tanui
Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya
Silver medal icon.svg Nixon Kiprotich
Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya
Bronze medal icon.svg Johnny Gray
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
  1988
1996  
Official Video Highlights
@ 10:40 TV-icon-2.svg
Official Video Highlights
@ 10:40

The men's 800 metres was an event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total number of 59 participating athletes from 48 nations, with eight qualifying heats. [1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by William Tanui of Kenya, the second straight Games in which a Kenyan man won the 800 metres. Johnny Gray returned the United States to podium after a 16-year absence.

Summary

Johnny Gray took the race out to the "Gray zone" running the first lap in 49.9 hoping to burn off the competition. His only follower was José Luíz Barbosa with Nixon Kiprotich and William Tanui trailing a clear breakaway from the rest of the field. Entering the final turn, Gray stumbled for a moment, losing momentum, but a straining Barbosa could not take advantage. Through the turn, the two Kenyans Tanui and Kiprotich worked their way around Barbosa, with Tanui challenging Gray for the lead. At first Gray was able to head off the challenge but Tanui kept coming and the depleted Gray could not hold on. Kiprotich, only a time qualifier from his semi, closed late on his teammate, passing Gray for silver.

Background

This was the 22nd appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Four finalists from 1988, including the champion, returned: gold medalist Paul Ereng of Kenya, fifth-place finisher Johnny Gray of the United States (also a finalist in 1984), sixth-place finisher José Luíz Barbosa of Brazil, and eighth-place finisher Nixon Kiprotich of Kenya. The Kenyan team was strong, even without two-time world champion Billy Konchellah (out due to asthma); William Tanui joined the two veterans. [2]

Belize, the Central African Republic, the Maldives, Mauritania, and Vanuatu all appeared in the event for the first time. Twelve of the former Soviet republics competed together as the Unified Team. There was one Independent Olympic Participant from Yugoslavia. Unified Yemen appeared for the first time, though North Yemen had competed previously. Great Britain made its 21st appearance, most among all nations, having had no competitors in the event only in the 1904 Games in St. Louis.

Competition format

The men's 800 metres returned to a smaller field with only three rounds, the most common format since 1912, after two Games of a four-round format. 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; the top two runners in each semifinal and the next two fastest overall advanced to the eight-man final. [2] [3]

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World recordFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  Sebastian Coe  (GBR)1:41.73 Florence, Italy10 June 1981
Olympic recordFlag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg  Joaquim Cruz  (BRA)1:43.00 Los Angeles, United States6 August 1984

No world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

The following national records were established during the competition:

NationAthleteRoundTime
Flag of the Central African Republic.svg  Central African Republic Zacharia Maidjida Heat 51:50.41

Schedule

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

DateTimeRound
Saturday, 1 August 199218:45Round 1
Sunday, 2 August 199220:30Semifinals
Wednesday, 5 August 199221:05Final

Results

Round 1

Heat 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Piotr Piekarski Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 1:48.51Q
2 Mark Everett Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:48.65Q
3 Lee Jin-Il Flag of South Korea (1984-1997).svg  South Korea 1:48.68
4 Mahjoub Haida Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco 1:48.72
5 Jörg Haas Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 1:50.42
6 Symphorien Samba Flag of the Republic of the Congo.svg  Republic of the Congo 1:51.75
7 Mohamed Salem Al-Tunaiji Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg  United Arab Emirates 1:53.91
8 Ilunga Kafila Flag of Zaire (1971-1997).svg  Zaire 1:57.73

Heat 2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Tom McKean Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:47.85Q
2 Atle Douglas Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1:48.08Q
3 Freddie Williams Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1:48.20
4 Frédéric Cornette Flag of France.svg  France 1:48.22
5 Eversley Linley Flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.svg  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1:52.49
6 Chérif Baba Aidara Flag of Mauritania (1959-2017).svg  Mauritania 1:56.41
7 Bassam Kawas Flag of Lebanon.svg  Lebanon 1:58.71
8 Hussain Riyaz Flag of Maldives.svg  Maldives 2:00.93

Heat 3

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Johnny Gray Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:46.62Q
2 Tomas de Teresa Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 1:46.78Q
3 Babacar Niang Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 1:46.69q
4 Tommy Asinga Flag of Suriname.svg  Suriname 1:47.23q
5 Vebjørn Rodal Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1:48.00q
6 Terap Adoum Yaya Flag of Chad.svg  Chad 1:54.43
7 Baptiste Firiam Flag of Vanuatu.svg  Vanuatu 1:57.96

Heat 4

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 William Tanui Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 1:47.02Q
2 Kennedy Osei Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana 1:47.17Q
3 Sipho Dlamini Flag of Swaziland.svg  Swaziland 1:48.70
4 José Arconada Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 1:49.23
5 Mohamed Sy Savané Flag of Guinea.svg  Guinea 1:51.80
Idrissou Tamimou Flag of Benin.svg  Benin DSQ
Giuseppe D'UrsoFlag of Italy.svg  Italy DNS

Heat 5

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Curtis Robb Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:46.16Q
2 Clive Terrelonge Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 1:46.64Q
3 Luis Javier González Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 1:46.65q
4 Paul Ereng Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 1:46.65q
5 João Baptista Ntyamba Flag of Angola.svg  Angola 1:48.54
6 Zacharia Maidjida Flag of the Central African Republic.svg  Central African Republic 1:50.41NR
7 Emiliano Buale Flag of Equatorial Guinea.svg  Equatorial Guinea 1:58.95
Baba Njie Flag of The Gambia.svg  The Gambia DNS

Heat 6

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Nixon Kiprotich Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 1:47.45Q
2 Andrea Benvenuti Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:47.58Q
3 Mbiganyi Thee Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana 1:48.04q
4 Robin van Helden Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1:48.05q
5 Dale Anthony Jones Flag of Antigua and Barbuda.svg  Antigua and Barbuda 1:50.43
6 Melford Homela Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 1:50.50
7 Abdullah Mohamed Al-Anbari Flag of Oman (1970-1995).svg  Oman 1:50.72
8 Khambieng Khamiar Flag of Laos.svg  Laos 2:02.45

Heat 7

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 José Luíz Barbosa Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 1:46.16Q
2 Reda Abdenouz Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 1:46.82Q
3 Mohamed Ismail Yousuf Flag of Qatar.svg  Qatar 1:49.32
4 Slobodan Popovic Olympic flag.svg  Independent Olympic Participants 1:49.69
5 António Abrantes Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 1:50.89
6Desmond HectorFlag of Guyana.svg  Guyana 1:51.43
John Maurice Palacio Flag of Belize (1981-2019).svg  Belize DSQ

Heat 8

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Steve Heard Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:46.42Q
2 Marko Koers Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1:46.88Q
3 Anatoly Makarevich Olympic flag.svg  Unified Team 1:47.30q
4 José Parrilla Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:48.17
5 Prince Amara Flag of Sierra Leone.svg  Sierra Leone 1:51.76
6 Stevon Roberts Flag of Barbados.svg  Barbados 1:52.30
7 Anwar Mohamed Flag of Yemen.svg  Yemen 1:52.71
8 Francis Munthali Flag of Malawi.svg  Malawi 1:56.69

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Johnny Gray Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:45.66Q
2 Andrea Benvenuti Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:45.80Q
3 Nixon Kiprotich Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 1:46.02q
4 Tomas de Teresa Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 1:46.08
5 Mbiganyi Thee Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana 1:46.13
6 Steve Heard Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:46.19
7 Anatoly Makarevich Olympic flag.svg  Unified Team 1:46.69
8 Tommy Asinga Flag of Suriname.svg  Suriname 1:46.78

Semifinal 2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 Curtis Robb Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:45.25Q
2 José Luíz Barbosa Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 1:45.32Q
3 Reda Abdenouz Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 1:46.06q
4 Kennedy Osei Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana 1:46.20
5 Robin van Helden Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1:46.98
6 Luis Javier González Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 1:47.09
7 Atle Douglas Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1:48.63
8 Paul Ereng Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 1:49.90

Semifinal 3

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1 William Tanui Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 1:46.59Q
2 Mark Everett Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:46.94Q
3 Babacar Niang Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 1:46.95
4 Tom McKean Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:48.77
5 Vebjørn Rodal Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1:49.53
6 Clive Terrelonge Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 1:51.03
7 Marko Koers Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1:52.23
Piotr Piekarski Flag of Poland.svg  Poland DSQ

Final

The final was held on August 5, 1992.

Tanui's winning margin of 0.04 seconds remains the smallest winning margin in the history of the event.

RankAthleteNationTime
Gold medal icon.svg William Tanui Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 1:43.66
Silver medal icon.svg Nixon Kiprotich Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 1:43.70
Bronze medal icon.svg Johnny Gray Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:43.97
4 José Luíz Barbosa Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 1:45.06
5 Andrea Benvenuti Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:45.23
6 Curtis Robb Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:45.57
7 Reda Abdenouz Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 1:48.34
Mark Everett Flag of the United States.svg  United States DNF

See also

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References

  1. "Athletics at the 1992 Barcelona Games: Men's 800 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  2. 1 2 "800 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  3. Official Report, vol. 5, p. 42.