Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta was held between 28 and 31 July 1996. There were a total of 60 competitors from 42 countries. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.16 seconds by Vebjørn Rodal of Norway, the nation's first title in the men's 800 metres and first medal in the event since 1956. Hezekiél Sepeng's silver was South Africa's first 800 metres medal since 1920.

Background This was the 23rd appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Four finalists from 1992 returned: bronze medalist Johnny Gray of the United States (also a finalist in 1984 and 1988), fourth-place finisher José Luíz Barbosa of Brazil (a 1988 finalist as well), fifth-place finisher Andrea Benvenuti of Italy, and sixth-place finisher Curtis Robb of Great Britain. Wilson Kipketer was the strongest 800 metres runner in 1996, having won the first of his three world championship titles in 1995; however, he was ruled ineligible for the Games during the process of changing his nationality from Kenya to Denmark. Without Kipketer, the field was open with no clear favorite.

Burundi, the Czech Republic, Dominica, Guinea-Bissau, Kyrgyzstan, and Latvia appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain made its 22nd appearance, most among all nations, having had no competitors in the event only in the 1904 Games in St. Louis.

Competition format The men's 800 metres again used a three-round format, the most common format since 1912 though there had been variations. 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.Official Report, vol. 3, pp. 74–75.

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

In the final Vebjørn Rodal set a new Olympic record at 1:42.58.

Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)

Date Time Round Sunday, 28 July 1996 19:15 Round 1 Monday, 29 July 1996 18:50 Semifinals Wednesday, 31 July 1996 20:35 Final

Results

Round 1

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Vebjørn Rodal 1:45.30 2 Curtis Robb 1:45.85 3 José Luíz Barbosa 1:46.58 4 David Matthews 1:46.76 5 Joachim Dehmel 1:47.12 6 Joseph Rakotoarimanana 1:47.33 7 Tommy Asinga 1:48.29

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Philip Kibitok 1:45.34 2 Nico Motchebon 1:45.82 3 Bruno Konczylo 1:46.04 4 Adem Hecini 1:47.23 5 Abdul Rahman Al-Abdullah 1:48.52 6 Flavio Godoy 1:48.91 7 Chérif Baba Aidara 1:56.20

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Norberto Téllez 1:47.24 2 Craig Winrow 1:47.41 3 Pavel Soukup 1:47.67 4 Andrés Manuel Díaz 1:47.86 5 Atle Douglas 1:48.60 6 Cedric Harris 1:51.46 7 Fernando Arlete 2:00.07

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 David Kiptoo 1:45.11 2 Giuseppe D'Urso 1:45.27 3 Johan Botha 1:45.63 4 Jimmy Jean-Joseph 1:45.64 5 Ibrahim Aden 1:47.31 6 Charles Nkazamyampi 1:47.95 7 Tavakalo Kailes 1:55.07 8 Naseer Ismail 1:58.70

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Johnny Gray 1:45.87 2 Einārs Tupurītis 1:45.88 3 Savieri Ngidhi 1:46.46 4 Balázs Korányi 1:46.63 5 Antonio Abrantes 1:47.73 6 Clive Terrelonge 1:48.29 7 Themba Makhanya 1:59.02

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Arthémon Hatungimana 1:47.10 2 Andrea Benvenuti 1:47.45 3 Marius van Heerden 1:47.46 4 David Maxwell Strang 1:47.96 5 Boris Kaveshnikov 1:48.88 6 José Parrilla 1:49.99 7 Yaya Terap Adoum 1:52.68

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Benyounes Lahlou 1:45.85 2 Fred Onyancha 1:46.07 3 Paul Byrne 1:47.05 4 Alex Morgan 1:47.40 5 Mohamed Babiker Yagoub 1:48.50 6 Manlio Molinari 1:56.08 — Roberto Parra

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Hezekiél Sepeng 1:45.45 2 André Bucher 1:46.85 3 Andrea Giocondi 1:47.26 4 Brandon Rock 1:48.47 5 Jean Destine 1:48.82 6 Saeed Basweidan 1:49.35 7 Greg Rhymer 1:50.03

Overall results for round 1

Rank Heat Athlete Nation Time Notes Overall In heat 1 1 4 David Kiptoo 1:45.11 2 2 4 Giuseppe D'Urso 1:45.27 3 1 1 Vebjørn Rodal 1:45.30 4 1 2 Philip Kibitok 1:45.34 5 3 4 Johan Botha 1:45.63 6 4 4 Jimmy Jean-Joseph 1:45.64 7 2 2 Nico Motchebon 1:45.82 8 1 7 Benyounes Lahlou 1:45.85 2 1 Curtis Robb 1:45.85 10 1 5 Johnny Gray 1:45.87 11 2 5 Einārs Tupurītis 1:45.88 12 3 2 Bruno Konczylo 1:46.04 13 2 7 Fred Onyancha 1:46.07 14 1 8 Hezekiél Sepeng 1:45.45 15 3 5 Savieri Ngidhi 1:46.46 16 3 1 José Luíz Barbosa 1:46.58 17 4 5 Balázs Korányi 1:46.63 18 4 1 David Matthews 1:46.76 19 2 8 André Bucher 1:46.85 20 3 7 Paul Byrne 1:47.05 21 1 6 Arthémon Hatungimana 1:47.10 22 5 1 Joachim Dehmel 1:47.12 23 4 2 Adem Hecini 1:47.23 24 1 3 Norberto Téllez 1:47.24 25 3 8 Andrea Giocondi 1:47.26 26 5 4 Ibrahim Aden 1:47.31 27 6 1 Joseph Rakotoarimanana 1:47.33 28 4 7 Alex Morgan 1:47.40 29 2 3 Craig Winrow 1:47.41 30 2 6 Andrea Benvenuti 1:47.45 31 3 6 Marius van Heerden 1:47.46 32 3 3 Pavel Soukup 1:47.67 33 5 5 Antonio Abrantes 1:47.73 34 4 3 Andrés Manuel Díaz 1:47.86 35 6 4 Charles Nkazamyampi 1:47.95 36 4 6 David Maxwell Strang 1:47.96 37 7 1 Tommy Asinga 1:48.29 6 5 Clive Terrelonge 1:48.29 39 4 8 Brandon Rock 1:48.47 40 5 7 Mohamed Babiker Yagoub 1:48.50 41 5 2 Abdul Rahman Al-Abdullah 1:48.52 42 5 3 Atle Douglas 1:48.60 43 5 8 Jean Destine 1:48.82 44 5 6 Boris Kaveshnikov 1:48.88 45 6 2 Flavio Godoy 1:48.91 46 6 8 Saeed Basweidan 1:49.35 47 6 6 José Parrilla 1:49.99 48 7 8 Greg Rhymer 1:50.03 49 6 3 Cedric Harris 1:51.46 50 7 6 Yaya Terap Adoum 1:52.68 51 7 4 Tavakalo Kailes 1:55.07 52 7 2 Chérif Baba Aidara 1:56.20 53 8 4 Naseer Ismail 1:58.70 54 7 5 Themba Makhanya 1:59.02 55 7 3 Fernando Arlete 2:00.07 56 6 7 Manlio Molinari 1:56.08 — — 7 Roberto Parra

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Hezekiél Sepeng 1:45.16 2 Nico Motchebon 1:45.40 3 Philip Kibitok 1:45.58 4 André Bucher 1:46.41 5 Giuseppe D'Urso 1:46.97 6 Paul Byrne 1:47.58 7 Bruno Konczylo 1:48.02 8 Craig Winrow 1:48.57

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Benyounes Lahlou 1:43.99 2 Johnny Gray 1:44.00 3 Fred Onyancha 1:44.02 4 Arthémon Hatungimana 1:44.92 5 Savieri Ngidhi 1:46.78 6 Curtis Robb 1:47.48 7 Johan Botha 1:48.06 8 José Luíz Barbosa 1:50.33

Semifinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Norberto Téllez 1:43.79 2 David Kiptoo 1:43.90 3 Vebjørn Rodal 1:43.96 4 Einārs Tupurītis 1:46.41 5 David Matthews 1:47.83 6 Jimmy Jean-Joseph 1:48.50 7 Balázs Korányi 1:50.30 — Andrea Benvenuti

Overall results for semifinals

Rank Heat Athlete Nation Time Notes Overall In heat 1 1 3 Norberto Téllez 1:43.79 2 2 3 David Kiptoo 1:43.90 3 3 3 Vebjørn Rodal 1:43.96 4 1 2 Benyounes Lahlou 1:43.99 5 2 2 Johnny Gray 1:44.00 6 3 2 Fred Onyancha 1:44.02 7 4 2 Arthémon Hatungimana 1:44.92 8 1 1 Hezekiél Sepeng 1:45.16 9 2 1 Nico Motchebon 1:45.40 10 3 1 Philip Kibitok 1:45.58 11 4 1 André Bucher 1:46.41 4 3 Einārs Tupurītis 1:46.41 13 5 2 Savieri Ngidhi 1:46.78 14 5 1 Giuseppe D'Urso 1:46.97 15 6 2 Curtis Robb 1:47.48 16 6 1 Paul Byrne 1:47.58 17 5 3 David Matthews 1:47.83 18 7 1 Bruno Konczylo 1:48.02 19 7 2 Johan Botha 1:48.06 20 6 3 Jimmy Jean-Joseph 1:48.50 21 8 1 Craig Winrow 1:48.57 22 7 3 Balázs Korányi 1:50.30 23 8 2 José Luíz Barbosa 1:50.33 — — 3 Andrea Benvenuti

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Vebjørn Rodal 1:42.58 6 Hezekiél Sepeng 1:42.74 7 Fred Onyancha 1:42.79 4 4 Norberto Téllez 1:42.85 5 8 Nico Motchebon 1:43.91 6 5 David Kiptoo 1:44.19 7 2 Johnny Gray 1:44.21 8 3 Benyounes Lahlou 1:45.52

See also Women's 800 metres

References

External links Official Report Results