Wilson Kosgei Kipketer 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 800 m distance for a decade, remaining undefeated for a three-year period and running 8 of the 17 currently all-time fastest times. He won gold medals in three successive editions of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. Though unable to compete in the 1996 Olympics near the peak of his career, he earned silver in 2000 and bronze in 2004. Kipketer's 800 meters world record stood for almost 13 years. It was surpassed on 22 August 2010, when David Rudisha beat it by 0.02 seconds, running 1:41.09. Rudisha would eventually go on to further lower the 800m world record to the first and only sub one minute 41 second run. Kipketer still currently holds the indoor world record for the 800 metres.
Togo competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. The country's participation at Athens marked its seventh appearance in the Summer Olympics since its debut at the 1972 Summer Games in Munich, West Germany. The delegation included two track and field athletes and a single canoeist; Jan Sekpona in the men's 800 metres, Sandrine Thiébaud-Kangni in the women's 400 metres, and Benjamin Boukpeti in the men's K-1. Both Sekpona and Thiébaud-Kangni were eliminated in the first round of their competitions, while Boukpeti progressed to the semi-finals.
Argentina da Glória “Tina” Paulino is an 800 metres runner from Mozambique.
Rashid Ramzi is a Moroccan-Bahraini track and field athlete competing internationally for Bahrain in the 800 metres and 1500 metres. Ramzi was investigated by the IAAF after the 2008 Summer Olympics and was stripped of his gold medal for doping.
Nikolina Pavlova Shtereva is a retired Bulgarian middle-distance runner who specialised in the 800 and 1500 metres. She is best known for her silver medal in 800 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and at the European Indoor Championships she won gold medals in 1976 and 1979 and a bronze medal in 1981. She won fourteen national titles in Bulgaria, and is still the Bulgarian record holder in the 800 metres.
Amine Laâlou is a Moroccan track and field athlete, who specializes in middle-distance running. He has represented his country at the Summer Olympics on two occasions; in 2004 and 2008. He began his career as an 800 metres specialist and made his global debut at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. He won medals at smaller international competitions, including the 2004 Pan Arab Games and 2005 Mediterranean Games. He reached his first global final at the 2007 World Championships, taking sixth, and was a semi-finalist at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Otukile Lekote is a middle distance runner from Botswana who specializes in the 800 metres.
Totka Nikolaeva Petrova is a retired female middle distance runner who represented Bulgaria in the 1970s and the early 1980s. She specialized in the 800 and 1500 metres, and won numerous international medals. She is still the Bulgarian 1500 metres record holder.
Adam Piotr Kszczot is a retired Polish middle-distance runner who specialised in the 800 metres. His achievements include silver medals at the 2015 and 2017 World Championships in Athletics, gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships as well as silver and bronze at the 2014 and 2010 World Indoor Championships respectively. Kszczot won three gold medals in the 800 m at both the European Outdoor and Indoor Championships. He twice competed at the Olympic Games, in 2012 and 2016, narrowly missing the final on both occasions.
Rosibel García Mina is a Colombian track and field athlete who specialises in middle-distance running events. She has represented her country at the Summer Olympics and has also competed at the World Championships in Athletics.
The men's 800 metres middle distance event at the 1932 Summer Olympics took place on August 1 and August 2 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Twenty-one athletes from 11 nations competed. The 1930 Olympic Congress in Berlin had reduced the limit from 4 athletes per NOC to 3 athletes. The event was won by Tommy Hampson, the fourth consecutive British victory and fifth overall British title in the 800 metres. Canada won its first two 800 metres medals with silver and bronze.
Dmitriy Anatolyevich Bogdanov is a Russian middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 metres. His personal best times are 1:44.33 minutes in the 800 metres and 46.50 seconds in the 400 metres.
Mohammad Mutlak Khalif Al-Azemi is a Kuwaiti middle distance runner who specialises in the 800 metres. His 800 m personal bests of 1:44.13 minutes outdoors and 1:48.93 minutes indoors are the Kuwaiti records for the event. He represented his nation at the Olympic Games in 2004, 2008 and 2012, and has also made four appearances at the World Championships in Athletics.
Ayanleh Souleiman, also known as Hassan Ayanleh is a Djiboutian middle distance runner who specialises in the 1500 metres. He is the Djiboutian record holder for the distance, with his best of 3:29.58 minutes, as well as being the 3000 metres holder with 7:42.22 minutes. He also holds the indoor world record for the 1000-meter which he achieved at the 2016 Globengalan event in Stockholm Sweden. He also set a new IAAF Diamond League record at the IAAF Diamond League in August 2016 in the men's 1000 meters
Francine Niyonsaba is a Burundian runner who specialized in the 800 metres and shifted to longer distances in 2019. She was the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist in the women's 800 metres. Her silver medal was the first Olympic medal for Burundi since 1996. Niyonsaba won a silver in the event at the 2017 World Championships.
Eunice Jepkoech Sum is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 metres. She was the 2013 World champion and won the bronze medal in 2015. Sum took a silver and a gold at the 2012 and 2014 African Championships in Athletics respectively. She was also 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist and a three-time successive Diamond League winner in 2013–15.
Jan Sekpona is a retired Togolese middle-distance runner, who specialized in the 800 metres. Sekpona qualified for the Togolese squad in the men's 800 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens by attaining an entry time and a personal best of 1:52.40. Running against seven other athletes in heat three, Sekpona crossed the finish line by nearly ten minutes behind leader Wilson Kipketer of Denmark with an eighth-place time in 1:54.25. Sekpona failed to advance into the semifinals as he placed farther from two automatic slots for the next round and ranked no. 70 overall in the prelims. Sekpona was also appointed as the Togolese flag bearer by the National Olympic Committee in the opening ceremony.
Antoine Gakeme is a Burundian middle-distance runner who competes mainly in the 800 metres. He represented Burundi at the 2013 World Championships and was a finalist at the 2014 African Championships.
Isireli Naikelekelevesi is a Fijian former middle-distance runner who specialised in the 800 metres. He is the Fijian national record holder in that event.
Burundi competed at the 2019 African Games held from 19 to 31 August 2019 in Rabat, Morocco.
