Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles took place between 3 and 6 August.[1] Sixty-nine athletes from 55 nations competed.[2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.64 seconds by Joaquim Cruz of Brazil, the nation's first medal in the men's 800 metres. Sebastian Coe of Great Britain repeated his silver-medal performance from 1980, the eighth man to win two medals in the event.

Men's 800 metres
at the Games of the XXIII Olympiad
VenueLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Dates3 August 1984 (heats)
4 August 1984 (quarter-finals)
5 August 1984 (semi-finals)
6 August 1984 (final)
Competitors69 from 55 nations
Winning time1:43.00 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Joaquim Cruz
 Brazil
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Sebastian Coe
 Great Britain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Earl Jones
 United States
← 1980
1988 →

Summary

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With four notable front runners in the race the battle to the break was important. Edwin Koech on the far outside and Joaquim Cruz went out hard around the first turn, with Earl Jones and Johnny Gray to the inside. Cruz, Jones and Gray converged at the same spot, Gray getting the short end of the stick and suddenly losing ground to the back of the field, then Koech converged from the outside, closing the door on Cruz and Jones, with Cruz edging ahead of Jones as contact was made causing Cruz to jump 200 metres into the race. The lead group was marked by British rivals, defending champion Steve Ovett and world record holder Sebastian Coe. They held that order through the next 200 metres, only upset by Gray long striding along the outside up to Coe's shoulder. Gray's added speed seemed to force the leaders to run faster to stay ahead of him, while Ovett withered out the back of the field. With 200 to go Gray seemed to tighten up, frustrated that his hard effort only netted him fifth place. Through the turn, Cruz inched closer to Koech, still marked by Coe and Jones. When Cruz pounced coming off the turn, Koech wilted, outside of him Coe and Jones were in a shoulder to shoulder sprint battle. Cruz had won the war, sprinting away to a clear 5 metre victory. Coe was able to make a slight gain on Jones to take silver. Jones still held off a late charge by Billy Konchellah for bronze.

Background

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This was the 20th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Three of the top four men from 1980 returned: gold medalist Steve Ovett and silver medalist Sebastian Coe of Great Britain, as well as fourth-place finisher Agberto Guimarães of Brazil. Coe (the world record holder) was a favorite, along with Guimarães's countryman Joaquim Cruz. Ovett had a respiratory illness and, while still strong in the event, was not at peak power.[2]

Of the 55 nations represented, 20 had never had a competitor in the men's 800 metres before: Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, the Gambia, Grenada, Jordan, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Oman, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, the Seychelles, the Solomon Islands, Swaziland, the United Arab Emirates, North Yemen, and Zimbabwe all appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain made its 19th appearance, most among all nations, having had no competitors in the event only in the 1904 Games in St. Louis.

Competition format

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For only the second time, the 800 metres was run over four rounds (the first was in 1960); the number of runners had increased to 69 from 41 in 1980. The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1964 was used for the first round. There were nine first-round heats, each with 7 or 8 athletes; the top three runners in each heat as well as the next five fastest overall advanced to the semifinals. There were four quarterfinals, each of 8 athletes; the top four runners in each advanced to the semifinals. There were two semifinals with 8 athletes each; the top four runners in each semifinal advanced to the eight-man final.[2][3]

Records

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

World record   Sebastian Coe (GBR) 1:41.73 Florence, Italy 10 June 1981
Olympic record   Alberto Juantorena (CUB) 1:43.50 Montreal, Canada 25 July 1976

In the final Joaquim Cruz set a new Olympic record at 1:43.00.

Schedule

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All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC−7)

Date Time Round
Friday, 3 August 1984 16:40 Round 1
Saturday, 4 August 1984 17:40 Quarterfinals
Sunday, 5 August 1984 18:05 Semifinals
Monday, 6 August 1984 17:50 Final

Results

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Round 1

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Rank Heat Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 5 Joaquim Cruz   Brazil 1:45.66 Q
2 2 Sebastian Coe   Great Britain 1:45.71 Q
3 2 Omer Khalifa   Sudan 1:45.81 Q
4 2 Colomán Trabado   Spain 1:46.00 Q
5 2 Riccardo Materazzi   Italy 1:46.03 q
6 9 Billy Konchellah   Kenya 1:46.27 Q
7 5 Steve Ovett   Great Britain 1:46.66 Q
8 8 Juma Ndiwa   Kenya 1:46.73 Q
9 2 Marcus O'Sullivan   Ireland 1:46.85 q
10 8 William Wuycke   Venezuela 1:46.88 Q
11 1 Babacar Niang   Senegal 1:46.90 Q
12 1 Abdi Bile   Somalia 1:46.92 Q
13 3 Owen Hamilton   Jamaica 1:46.95 Q
14 9 Peter Elliott   Great Britain 1:46.98 Q
15 1 Donato Sabia   Italy 1:47.04 Q
16 7 Edwin Koech   Kenya 1:47.11 Q
17 9 José Luíz Barbosa   Brazil 1:47.12 Q
18 6 Johnny Gray   United States 1:47.19 Q
19 8 Mohamed Alouini   Tunisia 1:47.20 Q
20 6 Pat Scammell   Australia 1:47.24 Q
21 1 Sotirios Moutsanas   Greece 1:47.32 q
22 6 Marco Mayr   Switzerland 1:47.36 Q
23 6 Ahmed Belkessam   Algeria 1:47.51 q
24 7 Hans-Peter Ferner   West Germany 1:47.55 Q
25 9 Bruce Roberts   Canada 1:47.56 q
26 5 Oslen Barr   Guyana 1:47.65 Q
27 7 Agberto Guimarães   Brazil 1:47.72 Q
28 8 Simon Hoogewerf   Canada 1:47.74
29 4 Earl Jones   United States 1:47.75 Q
30 4 Faouzi Lahbi   Morocco 1:47.81 Q
31 7 Mark Handelsman   Israel 1:47.90
32 3 Moussa Fall   Senegal 1:47.91 Q
33 3 John Marshall   United States 1:47.99 Q
34 5 Benjamín González   Spain 1:48.01
35 4 Philippe Dupont   France 1:48.09 Q
36 1 Joseph Ramotshabi   Botswana 1:48.17
37 5 Batulamai Rajakumar   Malaysia 1:48.19
38 3 Jama Aden   Somalia 1:48.64
39 2 Archfell Musango   Zambia 1:48.84
40 4 Axel Harries   West Germany 1:48.92
41 8 Taplumanei Jonga   Zimbabwe 1:49.59
42 3 Peter Pearless   New Zealand 1:49.95
43 5 Isaac Ganunga   Malawi 1:51.25
44 6 Meesaq Rizvi   Pakistan 1:51.29
45 9 Charles Borromeo   India 1:51.52
46 9 Dale Jones   Antigua and Barbuda 1:51.52
47 1 André Titos   Mozambique 1:51.73
48 5 Francisco Figueredo   Paraguay 1:52.22
49 1 Samuel Sawny   Grenada 1:53.08
50 8 Charlie Oliver   Solomon Islands 1:53.22
51 7 Jerry Molyneaux   British Virgin Islands 1:53.23
52 7 Jean-Marie Rudasingwa   Rwanda 1:53.23
53 5 Siegfried Cruden   Suriname 1:53.31
54 4 Mouteb Al-Faouri   Jordan 1:53.89
55 2 Leopoldo Acosta   Ecuador 1:54.06
56 3 Alberto López   Guatemala 1:54.19
57 6 William Amakye   Ghana 1:54.80
58 4 Ibrahim Aziz   United Arab Emirates 1:54.86
59 9 Peter Ceesay   The Gambia 1:55.35
60 9 Ousman Miangoto   Chad 1:56.02
61 1 Jodha Gurung   Nepal 1:56.72
62 2 Manlio Molinari   San Marino 1:57.09
63 8 Barakat Al-Sharji   Oman 2:00.38
64 6 Philip Sinon   Seychelles 2:04.89
65 8 Abdul Al-Ghadi   North Yemen 2:05.90
66 7 Bartolomé Esono Asumu   Equatorial Guinea 2:17.29
3 Vusie Dlamini   Swaziland DSQ
4 Kim Bok-joo   South Korea DSQ
7 Moussa Daweye   Niger DSQ

Quarterfinals

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Quarterfinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Edwin Koech   Kenya 1:44.74 Q
2 Donato Sabia   Italy 1:44.90 Q
3 Agberto Guimarães   Brazil 1:45.18 Q
4 Peter Elliott   Great Britain 1:45.49 Q
5 Faouzi Lahbi   Morocco 1:45.67
6 Babacar Niang   Senegal 1:45.71
7 Sotirios Moutsanas   Greece 1:46.34
Colomán Trabado   Spain DNF

Quarterfinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Billy Konchellah   Kenya 1:46.15 Q
2 Omar Khalifa   Sudan 1:46.33 Q
3 Sebastian Coe   Great Britain 1:46.75 Q
4 José Luíz Barbosa   Brazil 1:46.87 Q
5 John Marshall   United States 1:47.18
6 Riccardo Materazzi   Italy 1:47.90
7 Ahmed Belkessam   Algeria 1:48.11
8 Marco Mayr   Switzerland 1:48.30

Quarterfinal 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Joaquim Cruz   Brazil 1:44.84 Q
2 Steve Ovett   Great Britain 1:45.72 Q
3 Johnny Gray   United States 1:45.82 Q
4 William Wuycke   Venezuela 1:46.17 Q
5 Abdi Bile   Somalia 1:46.49
6 Owen Hamilton   Jamaica 1:46.74
7 Pat Scammel   Australia 1:47.90
8 Bruce Roberts   Canada 1:49.72

Quarterfinal 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Earl Jones   United States 1:45.44 Q
2 Hans-Peter Ferner   West Germany 1:45.52 Q
3 Juma Ndiwa   Kenya 1:45.59 Q
4 Moussa Fall   Senegal 1:45.71 Q
5 Mohamed Alouini   Tunisia 1:45.78
6 Marcus O'Sullivan   Ireland 1:46.21
7 Oslen Barr   Guyana 1:46.97
8 Philippe Dupont   France 1:48.95

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Joaquim Cruz   Brazil 1:43.82 Q
2 Edwin Koech   Kenya 1:44.12 Q
3 Earl Jones   United States 1:44.51 Q
4 Steve Ovett   Great Britain 1:44.81 Q
5 Omar Khalifa   Sudan 1:44.87
6 Moussa Fall   Senegal 1:45.03
7 William Wuycke   Venezuela 1:47.32
Peter Elliott   Great Britain DNF

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Sebastian Coe   Great Britain 1:45.51 Q
2 Billy Konchellah   Kenya 1:45.67 Q
3 Johnny Gray   United States 1:45.82 Q
4 Donato Sabia   Italy 1:45.96 Q
5 Hans-Peter Ferner   West Germany 1:46.16
6 Agberto Guimarães   Brazil 1:46.65
7 Juma Ndiwa   Kenya 1:48.06
8 José Luíz Barbosa   Brazil 1:48.70

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
  Joaquim Cruz   Brazil 1:43.00 OR
  Sebastian Coe   Great Britain 1:43.64
  Earl Jones   United States 1:43.83
4 Billy Konchellah   Kenya 1:44.03
5 Donato Sabia   Italy 1:44.53
6 Edwin Koech   Kenya 1:44.86
7 Johnny Gray   United States 1:47.89
8 Steve Ovett   Great Britain 1:52.28

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1984 Los Angeles Games: Men's 800 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "800 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 2, pp. 274–76.
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