Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

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Men's 800 metres
at the Games of the XXI Olympiad
Men 800m final 1976 Olympics.jpg
800 m final, left-right: Van Damme, Juantorena, Wohlhuter, Ovett, Sušanj
VenueOlympic Stadium
Date23 July 1976 (heats)
24 July 1976 (semi-finals)
25 July 1976 (final)
Competitors42 from 31 nations
Winning time1:43.5 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Alberto Juantorena
 Cuba
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Ivo van Damme
 Belgium
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Rick Wohlhuter
 United States
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Athletics at the
1976 Summer Olympics
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The men's 800 metres event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal was held on July 23, 1976, July 24, 1976, and on July 25, 1976.[1] Forty-two athletes from 31 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 Alberto Juantorena of Cuba, the nation's first medal in the event; Juantorena would later complete an unusual double in winning the 400 metres as well. Ivo van Damme's silver was Belgium's first medal in the event since 1960, matching the 1960 silver for best result for the nation.

Summary[]

From the gun Alberto Juantorena took an apparent lead against the field through the staggered start. Passing the break at 300 metres, the long striding Cuban was a couple of steps ahead of the noticeably smaller American Rick Wohlhuter. Sriram Singh came from more than 10 metres back at the break to sprint past Juantorena and the rest of the field, to take the lead just after the bell. Singh's lead was short lived as the field bunched then started to make their way around him. Wohlhuter stuck less than a mere step behind Juantorena all the way through the final turn as Ivo van Damme, Willi Wülbeck and future champion Steve Ovett jockeyed for position. Coming off the turn, Juantorena found more speed to pull away from Wohlhuter. As he struggled down the home stretch, Wohlhuter was passed by van Damme 20 metres before the finish.

Juantorena's 1:43.5 (rounded down from the electronic time of 1:43.50) broke Marcello Fiasconaro's hand timed world record of 1:43.7. Despite the erratic pace, Singh's time in 7th place stood as the Asian record until it was broken by Lee Jin-il in 1994.

Background[]

This was the 18th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the 1972 finalists returned; the Kenyan boycott kept Munich bronze medalist and would-be favorite Mike Boit out. Marcello Fiasconaro of Italy, who had set the world record in 1973, was injured and unable to compete. The favorites among the athletes who did appear were Alberto Juantorena of Cuba, Rick Wohlhuter of the United States, and Ivo van Damme of Belgium.[2]

Barbados, Saudi Arabia, and Suriname appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain and the United States each made their 17th appearance, tied for the most among all nations.

Competition format[]

The competition used the three-round format that had been in use for most Games since 1912. The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1964 was used for the first round. There were six first-round heats, each with 7 or 8 athletes (before withdrawals); the top two runners in each heat as well as the next four fastest overall 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[]

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

World record  Marcello Fiasconaro (ITA) 1:43.7 Milan, Italy 27 June 1973
Olympic record  Ralph Doubell (AUS) 1:44.3 Mexico City, Mexico 15 October 1968

In the final, all three medalists ran under the Olympic record time. Alberto Juantorena won the event with the world record time of 1:43.50.

Schedule[]

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Date Time Round
Friday, 23 July 1976 15:00 Round 1
Saturday, 24 July 1976 16:35 Semifinals
Sunday, 25 July 1976 17:15 Final

Results[]

Round 1[]

The first round was held on July 23, 1976.

Heat 1[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Rick Wohlhuter  United States 1:45.71 Q
2 Sri Ram Singh  India 1:45.86 Q
3 Leandro Civil  Cuba 1:45.88 q
4 Marian Gęsicki  Poland 1:46.36 q
5 Thomas Wessinghage  West Germany 1:46.56 q
6 Viktor Anokhin  Soviet Union 1:46.81 q
7 Muhammad Younis  Pakistan 1:48.50

Heat 2[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Frank Clement  Great Britain 1:47.51 Q
2 James Robinson  United States 1:47.56 Q
3 John Walker  New Zealand 1:47.63
4 Andrés Ballbé  Spain 1:48.38
5 Fernando Mamede  Portugal 1:49.58
6 Francisco Solis  Dominican Republic 1:55.56
7 Wilnor Joseph  Haiti 2:15.26

Heat 3[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Steve Ovett  Great Britain 1:48.27 Q
2 Seymour Newman  Jamaica 1:48.46 Q
3 Paul-Heinz Wellmann  West Germany 1:48.47
4 Jozef Plachý  Czechoslovakia 1:48.63
5 Günther Hasler  Liechtenstein 1:48.83
6 Evert Hoving  Netherlands 1:48.99
7 Roy Bottse  Suriname 1:49.85
8 Erasmo Gómez  Nicaragua 1:57.97

Heat 4[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Alberto Juantorena  Cuba 1:47.15 Q
2 Carlo Grippo  Italy 1:47.21 Q
3 János Zemen  Hungary 1:47.40
4 Milovan Savić  Yugoslavia 1:47.73
5 Jorge Ortíz  Puerto Rico 1:51.38
— Roqui Sanchez  France DSQ
Markku Taskinen  Finland DNS

Heat 5[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Willi Wülbeck  West Germany 1:48.47 Q
2 Horace Tuitt  Trinidad and Tobago 1:48.48 Q
3 Vladimir Ponomaryov  Soviet Union 1:48.59
4 Åke Svensson  Sweden 1:48.86
5 José Marajo  France 1:49.60
6 Orlando Greene  Barbados 1:51.43
7 Attiya Al-Qahtani  Saudi Arabia 1:57.67

Heat 6[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ivo van Damme  Belgium 1:47.80 Q
2 Luciano Sušanj  Yugoslavia 1:47.82 Q
3 Mark Enyeart  United States 1:47.96
4 Rolf Gysin  Switzerland 1:48.69
5 Niall O'Shaughnessy  Ireland 1:49.29
6 Luis Medina  Cuba 1:50.15
7 Marcel Philippe  France 1:50.81

Semifinals[]

The semifinals were held on July 24, 1976.

Semifinal 1[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Alberto Juantorena  Cuba 1:45.88 Q
2 Ivo van Damme  Belgium 1:46.00 Q
3 Steve Ovett  Great Britain 1:46.14 Q
4 Sri Ram Singh  India 1:46.42 Q
5 James Robinson  United States 1:46.43
6 Marian Gęsicki  Poland 1:47.06
7 Thomas Wessinghage  West Germany 1:48.18
— Horace Tuitt  Trinidad and Tobago DNF

Semifinal 2[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Rick Wohlhuter  United States 1:46.72 Q
2 Carlo Grippo  Italy 1:46.95 Q
3 Luciano Sušanj  Yugoslavia 1:47.03 Q
4 Willi Wülbeck  West Germany 1:47.18 Q
5 Seymour Newman  Jamaica 1:47.22
6 Leandro Civil  Cuba 1:47.31
7 Viktor Anokhin  Soviet Union 1:47.71
8 Frank Clement  Great Britain 1:48.28

Final[]

The final was held on July 25, 1976.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Alberto Juantorena  Cuba 1:43.50 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Ivo van Damme  Belgium 1:43.86
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Rick Wohlhuter  United States 1:44.12
4 Willi Wülbeck  West Germany 1:45.26
5 Steve Ovett  Great Britain 1:45.44
6 Luciano Sušanj  Yugoslavia 1:45.75
7 Sriram Singh  India 1:45.77
8 Carlo Grippo  Italy 1:48.39

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1976 Montreal Summer Games: Men's 800 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "800 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, p. 54.
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