Sir Peter George Snell was a New Zealand middle-distance runner. He won three Olympic gold medals, and is the only man since 1920 to have won the 800 and 1500 metres at the same Olympics, in 1964.
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Masterkova is a Russian former middle distance runner and former women's world record holder for the mile and the current world record holder for the kilometer. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, she won the gold medal in both the 800 metres and 1500 metres.
Dame Kelly Holmes is a retired British middle distance athlete.
Saïd Aouita is a former Moroccan track and field athlete. He won the 5000 meters at the 1984 Summer Olympics and the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, as well as the 3000 meters at the 1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He is a former world record holder over 1500 metres (3:29.46), 2000 m (4:50.80), 3000 m (7:29.45), and twice at 5000 m. He lives in Orlando, Florida.
The pentathlon or women's pentathlon is a combined track and field event in which each woman competes in five separate events over one day. The distance or time for each event is converted to points via scoring tables, with the overall ranking determined by total points. Since 1949 the events have been sprint hurdling, high jump, shot put, long jump, and a flat race. The sprint hurdles distance was 80 m outdoors until 1969 and thereafter 100 m; in indoor pentathlon the distance is 60 m. The flat race was 200 m until 1976 and thereafter 800 m. In elite-level outdoor competition, the pentathlon was superseded in 1981 by the heptathlon, which has seven events, with both 200 m and 800 m, as well as the javelin throw. Pentathlon is still contested at school and masters level and indoors.
Michael Kipsubut Boit is a Kenyan former middle-distance athlete whose career spanned fifteen years. He is a professor at Kenyatta University in the Department of Exercise and Sports Science. He is an uncle to Philip Boit, who became the first Kenyan athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics.
John Lee Gray Jr. is a retired American world class 800 meter runner from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s and the holder of the 600m world best. A four-time-Olympian (1984-1996) in 1985 he set the US record of 1:42.60 at a meet in Koblenz. That time puts Gray as the nineteenth fastest performer of all time. He came seventh in the 1984 Summer Olympics, fifth in 1988, and won the bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics of 1992. In 1993 Gray was one of the favourites to win a gold medal at the World Championships in Stuttgart as he had won the A-race at the prestigious meeting in Zurich. However, he failed to qualify for the final in Stuttgart. He also set the world 600 meter record in 1986 at 1:12.81. In 1992 and 1993 Gray came close to breaking the world indoor record over 800 m several times. He held the US indoor record at 1:45.00 till February 2019.
Yekaterina Ilyinychna Podkopayeva is a retired middle distance runner who represented the USSR and later Russia. She gained international recognition in 1983, when she won two bronze medals at the World Championships. The same year she managed an 800 m time of 1:55.96. She resurfaced in 1992, winning the European Indoor Championships and placing 8th in the Olympics. More victories in European and World Indoor Championships followed until she retired after the 1998 season. When she won the 1500 metres at the 1997 World Indoors, she was 44, the oldest World Indoor champion ever.
Ruth Wysocki is an American middle distance runner who specialized in the 800 meters and 1500 metres.
Aneta Lemiesz is a Polish runner who specializes in the 400 and 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.
Alisa Harvey is a female middle distance runner from the United States. She set her personal best in the women's 1,500 meters 4:08.32 on June 26, 1992, at the US Olympic Trials in New Orleans and in the 800 meters 1:59.72 in 1995. She was ranked in the U.S. top ten in the 1500 meters 8 years in a row from 1986–1993, achieving number 1 in 1993. After taking 1994 off for maternity, she returned to the list in 1998 and 1999. She also made the U.S. list in the 800 metres six times between 1988 and 1996. In 1998 she became the 24th American woman to break 4:30 for a mile. She is still an active masters competitor, holding several world records and pursuing more as she moves into a new age division.
Katrina Jane Weston is a former British middle distance runner who specialised in the 800 metres. Competing as Jane Colebrook, she equalled the world indoor best to win at the 1977 European Indoor Championships and won a bronze medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games. Competing as Jane Finch, she won a silver medal at the 1985 World Indoor Games.
The 16th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held between March 17 and 20, 2016 in Portland, Oregon, United States.
Pedro Antonio Esteso Herrera is a Spanish athlete specialising in the middle-distance events. He won two medals at Summer Universiades, in 2001 and 2003.
Kristopher James "Kris" McCarthy is a retired Australian middle-distance runner who specialised in the 800 metres. He represented his country at the 2000 Summer Olympics without reaching the semifinals. He won the bronze medal in the event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Angela Kate Petty is a New Zealand middle-distance athlete.
Noel Stanley Clough is an Australian former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres, 800 metres, and 400 metres hurdles.
In the sport of athletics, pentathlons have taken various forms over the history of the sport, typically incorporating five track and field events. The only version of the event to remain at a high level of contemporary competition is the women's indoor pentathlon, which is present on the programme for the IAAF World Indoor Championships.
Juris Luzins is a retired American middle-distance runner of Latvian descent. He won the national 800 m title in 1971 and placed second in 1969. He missed the 1972 Olympics due to an injury, and later raced professionally.
