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.
Jemma Louise Simpson OLY is a British athlete who competes in the 800 metres and 1500 metres. She is a former British champion over 800m, winning both 2007, 2009 and 2010 British Championships. She was formerly coached by Olympic medallist Mark Rowland.
Kirsty Margaret Wade is a British former middle-distance runner. She is a three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist representing Wales, winning the 800 metres in Brisbane 1982 and both the 800 metres and 1500 metres in Edinburgh 1986. She represented Great Britain at the 1988 Olympic Games and the 1992 Olympic Games.
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.
The women's 800 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 16, 17 and 19 August. Prior to the championships, there was no clear favourite for the race – the twenty fastest times of the season had been run by seventeen different athletes. The reigning World and Olympic champions, Janeth Jepkosgei and Pamela Jelimo, had not shown the dominance of previous seasons. The two fastest runners of the season, Caster Semenya and Maggie Vessey, had recently set personal bests but lacked any major championships experience, while third best Anna Alminova was a 1500 metres specialist. European Indoor Champion Mariya Savinova and Svetlana Klyuka, fourth at the Olympics, were other strong competitors. The 2007 World medallists Hasna Benhassi and Mayte Martínez, and Olympic finalist Yuliya Krevsun were also predicted as medal possibilities.
Svetla Stefanova Zlateva is a retired Bulgarian sprinter and middle-distance runner who specialized in the 400 and 800 metres. She is a former world record holder in the latter event. In 1973, she was the winner of the first Balkan Athlete of the Year award.
Lilyana Tomova-Todorova, born 9 August 1946) is a retired Bulgarian sprinter and middle-distance runner who specialized in the 400, 800 and 1500 metres.
Vesela Yatsinska (Bulgarian: Весела Яцинска, née Tasheva is a retired Bulgarian middle-distance runner who specialized in the 800 and 1500 metres.
Marian Joan Burnett is a female middle-distance runner from Guyana who specialises in the 800 metres. She competed in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympic Games, reaching the second heat of the 800 metres on both occasions.
Ana Fidelia Quirot Moré is a former track and field athlete from Cuba, who specialised in the 800 metres but was also successful over 400 m. At 800 metres, she is a two-time World Champion and a two-time Olympic medallist. Her best time of 1:54.44 from 1989 still ranks her fifth on the world all-time list. She is regarded as one of the best female 800m runners of all time, and probably the best to not have an Olympic gold medal in the event.
Jessica Warner-Judd is an English middle- and long-distance runner. She won two individual medals in the Under-20 and U23 races at the European Cross Country Championships and a gold medal for the 5000 metres at the 2019 Universiade.
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.
Nicole Teter is an American middle distance runner, who specialized in the 800 metres. She is a three-time U.S. indoor champion, and a two-time Olympian. She also won a gold medal in the same category at the 2002 U.S. Outdoor Championships.
Laura Muir is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 metres, having previously finished seventh in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Muir won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships, and has three other top five placings in 1500 m finals at the World Athletics Championships, finishing fifth in 2015, fourth in 2017 and fifth in 2019. She is a two-time European 1500 m champion from 2018 and 2022 as well as the 2022 Commonwealth Games 1500 m champion and 800 metres bronze medallist.
Shireen Bailey is an English former middle distance runner who competed in the 800 metres and the 1500 metres. She represented Great Britain in both events at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. In 1983, she became only the second British woman in history to run the 800 metres in under two minutes. She is also a former English national record holder at the distance.
Selina Rutz-Büchel is a Swiss middle-distance runner who competes in the 800 metres. She holds a personal best of 1:57.95 minutes for the event, which she set in 2015 in Paris.
Winnie Nanyondo is a Ugandan middle- and long-distance runner. She has represented her native country in several important international events, including both the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the 2014 World University Cross Country Championships, the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the 2013 Summer Universiade, and the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics.
Georgia Helen Griffith is an Australian middle-distance runner.
Freweyni Hailu is an Ethiopian middle-distance runner. She won the gold medal at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships over 1500 metres.
