Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, ranging from 500 metres up to two miles. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1500 m came about as a result of running 3+3⁄4 laps of a 400 m outdoor track or 7+1⁄2 laps of a 200 m indoor track, which were commonplace in continental Europe in the 20th century.
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.
Ivo Van Damme was a Belgian middle-distance runner.
Saïd Aouita is a former Moroccan track and field athlete. He is the only athlete in history to have won a medal in each of the 800 meters and 5000 meters at the Olympic games. 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 (4:50.81), 3000 m (7:29.45), and twice at 5000 m. He lives in Orlando, Florida.
Audun Boysen was a Norwegian middle distance runner. Born in Bjarkøy and raised in Rissa, he first represented Rissa IL and later IK Tjalve in Oslo.
Belgium competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. 101 competitors, 93 men and 8 women, took part in 64 events in 16 sports.
Rudolf Waldemar Harbig was a German athlete. As a middle distance runner he was best known for the 800 metres world record that he set in Milan in 1939. He also held the European record in the 400 metres from 1939 until 1955.
The men's 800 metres was the middle of the seven men's track races in the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. 47 athletes from 32 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The first round was held on 14 October, with the semifinals on 15 October and the final on 16 October. The event was won by Peter Snell of New Zealand, successfully defending his 1960 gold medal, and completing the first half of his 800 metres/1500 metres double. Bill Crothers of Canada took silver, the first 800 metres medal for that nation since 1936 and matching Canada's best-ever result in the event. Wilson Kiprugut's bronze was the first medal by Kenya in any event; Kenya would become a frequent fixture on the men's 800 metres podium.
Honorary Captain Sriram Singh Shekhawat is a former Indian middle-distance runner.
The men's 800 metres event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne was held on 23, 24, and 26 November 1956. There were a total number of 38 competitors from 24 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Tom Courtney, the last of a streak of four American victories in the event and the seventh overall United States victory. Derek Johnson's silver put Great Britain back on the podium for the first time since that nation's own four-Games gold streak ended in 1932. Norway received its first men's 800 metres medal with Audun Boysen's bronze.
Arnold Milton Sowell is a former middle distance runner from the United States, who represented his native country at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. He finished fourth in the Men's 800-meter race.
Octavius ("Ocky") Rene Clark is an American competitive runner who won the gold medal in the 800 meter event at the 1991 Pan American Games.
The 1960 NCAA Track and Field Championships were held in Berkeley, California in June 1960. The University of Kansas won the team title for the second consecutive year. Ten NCAA meet records were broken, and one was tied.
Luciano Sušanj was a Croatian politician, sports worker and track athlete who competed for Yugoslavia. Sušanj was successful in international competition over 400 and 800 meters, but was best known for winning the 800 meters European title in 1974.
The men's 800 metres middle distance event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between August 31 and September 2. Fifty-one athletes from 35 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.
Gordon Edmund McKenzie was an American athlete who competed in the 10,000 meters at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and the marathon at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. McKenzie, running 2:28:18, finished second to Paavo Kotila in the 1960 Boston Marathon, an Olympic trials race. In 1961, he finished fourth at Boston, in 2:25:46.
The 800 metres at the Summer Olympics has been contested since the first edition of the multi-sport event. The men's 800 m has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1896. The women's event was first held in 1928, making it the first distance running event for women. The women's race was not held again until 1960; it has been a permanent fixture since. It is the most prestigious 800 m race at elite level. The competition format typically has three rounds: a qualifying round, semi-final stage, and a final between eight runners.
Sondre Nordstad Moen is a Norwegian long-distance runner. He set a European record in marathon in 2017 when winning the Fukuoka Marathon, a record he held for ten months. He has also held European records in 25,000 metres, and in one hour run.
Woldemar Gerschler was a German athletics coach responsible for the German national middle-distance runners at the 1936, 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. He was one of the pioneers of interval training and coached several world-record holders such as Rudolf Harbig, Gordon Pirie and Roger Moens.
Bryce Hoppel is an American middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 metres. He is the reigning 800 metres world indoor champion having won gold at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow. He also is a seven-time U.S. champion and two-time NCAA champion over the distance. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Hoppel set an American record in the event, with a time of 1:41.67 to become the seventh fastest man and the second fastest North American man at the distance.
