Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres was an event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total number of 59 participating athletes from 48 nations, with eight qualifying heats.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.04 seconds by William Tanui of Kenya, the second straight Games in which a Kenyan man won the 800 metres. Johnny Gray returned the United States to podium after a 16-year absence.

Men's 800 metres
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
VenueEstadi Olimpíc de Montjuïc
DatesAugust 1–5
Competitors59 from 49 nations
Winning time1:43.66
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) William Tanui
 Kenya
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Nixon Kiprotich
 Kenya
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Johnny Gray
 United States
← 1988
1996 →
Official Video Highlights
@ 10:40

Summary

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Johnny Gray took the race out to the "Gray zone" running the first lap in 49.9 hoping to burn off the competition. His only follower was José Luíz Barbosa with Nixon Kiprotich and William Tanui trailing a clear breakaway from the rest of the field. Entering the final turn, Gray stumbled for a moment, losing momentum, but a straining Barbosa could not take advantage. Through the turn, the two Kenyans Tanui and Kiprotich worked their way around Barbosa, with Tanui challenging Gray for the lead. At first Gray was able to head off the challenge but Tanui kept coming and the depleted Gray could not hold on. Kiprotich, only a time qualifier from his semi, closed late on his teammate, passing Gray for silver.

Background

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This was the 22nd appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Four finalists from 1988, including the champion, returned: gold medalist Paul Ereng of Kenya, fifth-place finisher Johnny Gray of the United States (also a finalist in 1984), sixth-place finisher José Luíz Barbosa of Brazil, and eighth-place finisher Nixon Kiprotich of Kenya. The Kenyan team was strong, even without two-time world champion Billy Konchellah (out due to asthma); William Tanui joined the two veterans.[2]

Belize, the Central African Republic, the Maldives, Mauritania, and Vanuatu all appeared in the event for the first time. Twelve of the former Soviet republics competed together as the Unified Team. There was one Independent Olympic Participant from Yugoslavia. Unified Yemen appeared for the first time, though North Yemen had competed previously. Great Britain made its 21st 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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The men's 800 metres returned to a smaller field with only three rounds, the most common format since 1912, after two Games of a four-round format. The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1964 was used for the first two rounds. There were eight first-round heats, each with 7 or 8 athletes; the top two runners in each heat as well as the next eight fastest overall advanced to the semifinals. There were three semifinals with 8 athletes each; the top two runners in each semifinal and the next two fastest overall 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   Joaquim Cruz (BRA) 1:43.00 Los Angeles, United States 6 August 1984

No world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

The following national records were established during the competition:

Nation Athlete Round Time
  Central African Republic Zacharia Maidjida Heat 5 1:50.41

Schedule

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All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round
Saturday, 1 August 1992 18:45 Round 1
Sunday, 2 August 1992 20:30 Semifinals
Wednesday, 5 August 1992 21:05 Final

Results

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Round 1

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Heat 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Piotr Piekarski   Poland 1:48.51 Q
2 Mark Everett   United States 1:48.65 Q
3 Lee Jin-Il   South Korea 1:48.68
4 Mahjoub Haida   Morocco 1:48.72
5 Jörg Haas   Germany 1:50.42
6 Symphorien Samba   Republic of the Congo 1:51.75
7 Mohamed Salem Al-Tunaiji   United Arab Emirates 1:53.91
8 Ilunga Kafila   Zaire 1:57.73

Heat 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Tom McKean   Great Britain 1:47.85 Q
2 Atle Douglas   Norway 1:48.08 Q
3 Freddie Williams   Canada 1:48.20
4 Frédéric Cornette   France 1:48.22
5 Eversley Linley   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1:52.49
6 Chérif Baba Aidara   Mauritania 1:56.41
7 Bassam Kawas   Lebanon 1:58.71
8 Hussain Riyaz   Maldives 2:00.93

Heat 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Johnny Gray   United States 1:46.62 Q
2 Tomas de Teresa   Spain 1:46.78 Q
3 Babacar Niang   Senegal 1:46.69 q
4 Tommy Asinga   Suriname 1:47.23 q
5 Vebjørn Rodal   Norway 1:48.00 q
6 Terap Adoum Yaya   Chad 1:54.43
7 Baptiste Firiam   Vanuatu 1:57.96

Heat 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 William Tanui   Kenya 1:47.02 Q
2 Kennedy Osei   Ghana 1:47.17 Q
3 Sipho Dlamini   Swaziland 1:48.70
4 José Arconada   Spain 1:49.23
5 Mohamed Sy Savané   Guinea 1:51.80
Idrissou Tamimou   Benin DSQ
Giuseppe D'Urso   Italy DNS

Heat 5

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Curtis Robb   Great Britain 1:46.16 Q
2 Clive Terrelonge   Jamaica 1:46.64 Q
3 Luis Javier González   Spain 1:46.65 q
4 Paul Ereng   Kenya 1:46.65 q
5 João Baptista Ntyamba   Angola 1:48.54
6 Zacharia Maidjida   Central African Republic 1:50.41 NR
7 Emiliano Buale   Equatorial Guinea 1:58.95
Baba Njie   The Gambia DNS

Heat 6

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Nixon Kiprotich   Kenya 1:47.45 Q
2 Andrea Benvenuti   Italy 1:47.58 Q
3 Mbiganyi Thee   Botswana 1:48.04 q
4 Robin van Helden   Netherlands 1:48.05 q
5 Dale Anthony Jones   Antigua and Barbuda 1:50.43
6 Melford Homela   Zimbabwe 1:50.50
7 Abdullah Mohamed Al-Anbari   Oman 1:50.72
8 Khambieng Khamiar   Laos 2:02.45

Heat 7

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 José Luíz Barbosa   Brazil 1:46.16 Q
2 Reda Abdenouz   Algeria 1:46.82 Q
3 Mohamed Ismail Yousuf   Qatar 1:49.32
4 Slobodan Popovic   Independent Olympic Participants 1:49.69
5 António Abrantes   Portugal 1:50.89
6 Desmond Hector   Guyana 1:51.43
John Maurice Palacio   Belize DSQ

Heat 8

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Steve Heard   Great Britain 1:46.42 Q
2 Marko Koers   Netherlands 1:46.88 Q
3 Anatoly Makarevich   Unified Team 1:47.30 q
4 José Parrilla   United States 1:48.17
5 Prince Amara   Sierra Leone 1:51.76
6 Stevon Roberts   Barbados 1:52.30
7 Anwar Mohamed   Yemen 1:52.71
8 Francis Munthali   Malawi 1:56.69

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Johnny Gray   United States 1:45.66 Q
2 Andrea Benvenuti   Italy 1:45.80 Q
3 Nixon Kiprotich   Kenya 1:46.02 q
4 Tomas de Teresa   Spain 1:46.08
5 Mbiganyi Thee   Botswana 1:46.13
6 Steve Heard   Great Britain 1:46.19
7 Anatoly Makarevich   Unified Team 1:46.69
8 Tommy Asinga   Suriname 1:46.78

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Curtis Robb   Great Britain 1:45.25 Q
2 José Luíz Barbosa   Brazil 1:45.32 Q
3 Reda Abdenouz   Algeria 1:46.06 q
4 Kennedy Osei   Ghana 1:46.20
5 Robin van Helden   Netherlands 1:46.98
6 Luis Javier González   Spain 1:47.09
7 Atle Douglas   Norway 1:48.63
8 Paul Ereng   Kenya 1:49.90

Semifinal 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 William Tanui   Kenya 1:46.59 Q
2 Mark Everett   United States 1:46.94 Q
3 Babacar Niang   Senegal 1:46.95
4 Tom McKean   Great Britain 1:48.77
5 Vebjørn Rodal   Norway 1:49.53
6 Clive Terrelonge   Jamaica 1:51.03
7 Marko Koers   Netherlands 1:52.23
Piotr Piekarski   Poland DSQ

Final

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The final was held on August 5, 1992.

Tanui's winning margin of 0.04 seconds remains the smallest winning margin in the history of the event.

Rank Athlete Nation Time
  William Tanui   Kenya 1:43.66
  Nixon Kiprotich   Kenya 1:43.70
  Johnny Gray   United States 1:43.97
4 José Luíz Barbosa   Brazil 1:45.06
5 Andrea Benvenuti   Italy 1:45.23
6 Curtis Robb   Great Britain 1:45.57
7 Reda Abdenouz   Algeria 1:48.34
Mark Everett   United States DNF

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1992 Barcelona Games: Men's 800 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b "800 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 5, p. 42.
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