Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres

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Men's 800 metres
at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
VenueOlympic Stadium
Dates23 September 1988 (heats)
24 September 1988 (quarterfinals)
25 September 1888 (semifinals)
26 September 1988 (final)
Competitors70 from 53 nations
Winning time1:43.55
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Paul Ereng
 Kenya
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Joaquim Cruz
 Brazil
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Saïd Aouita
 Morocco
← 1984
1992 →
Athletics at the
1988 Summer Olympics
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The men's 800 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entry list of 70 competitors from 53 nations, with nine qualifying heats (70), four second-round races (32) and two semifinals (16), before the final (8) took off on Monday September 26, 1988.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Paul Ereng of Kenya, the first time a Kenyan runner had won the 800 metres; the nation had previously taken silver in 1968 and bronze in 1964 and 1972. Joaquim Cruz of Brazil did not defend his 1984 gold, finishing second; the silver medal made him the ninth man to win two medals in the event. Saïd Aouita took bronze, Morocco's first medal in the men's 800 metres.

Summary[]

The final started out as a battle for the pole as José Luiz Barbosa and his teammate Joaquim Cruz led through the first turn, with Nixon Kiprotich in close pursuit. Barbosa was the first across the break line but Kiprotich ran hard down the backstretch to demand the lead. At the beginning of the second turn, Cruz tried to get around Barbosa. He was successful for a moment, the Barbosa accelerated and moved onto challenging position on Kiprotich's shoulder. Coming off the second turn, Barbosa put a finishing move on Kiprotich, but it was only the first lap, Barbosa getting the bell at a fast 49.54. Johnny Gray, known for this kind of destructive first lap was back in a more conservative fifth place, just behind Peter Elliott. Through the third turn, Saïd Aouita came forward from lagging at the back to move into challenging position behind Elliott. Paul Ereng followed Aouita from the back. His head bobbing, Kiprotich strained past Barbosa down the backstretch, but Cruz and Elliott were right with him, the defending champion Cruz continuing and edging ahead in the middle of the final turn. Kiprotich faded while Elliott and Aouita were challenging on Cruz's shoulder. Weaving his way around Barbosa and then Kiprotich, Ereng moved behind Elliott. Coming off the turn, Cruz accelerated, opening a 2-metre gap on his three pursuers, but his departure left a gap between Elliott and the curb, which Ereng gladly raced through. With more speed than the others, Ereng drifted to the outside, passing a helpless Cruz, who could only turn and look at who was passing him. Ereng ran away for gold while Cruz struggled. Further to the outside, Aouita took a run at Elliott, but ran into his elbow. Deterred for a moment, Aouita took a second run at Elliott, edging ahead for bronze, but too far back to catch Cruz for silver.

Background[]

This was the 21st appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Three finalists from 1984, including the champion, returned: gold medalist Joaquim Cruz of Brazil, fifth-place finisher Donato Sabia of Italy, and seventh-place finisher Johnny Gray of the United States. Saïd Aouita of Morocco was the favorite.[2]

Thirteen nations had never had a competitor in the men's 800 metres before: Andora, Angola, Bangladesh, Bermuda, the People's Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, the Cook Islands, Cyprus, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Qater, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Zaire all appeared in the event for the first time. Great Britain made its 20th appearance, most among all nations, having had no competitors in the event only in the 1904 Games in St. Louis.

Competition format[]

The 1988 edition of the men's 800 metres was run over four rounds, a format that appeared only in 1960 before returning in 1984. 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[]

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.

Schedule[]

All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)

Date Time Round
Friday, 23 September 1988 14:00 Round 1
Saturday, 24 September 1988 15:10 Quarterfinals
Sunday, 25 September 1988 14:50 Semifinals
Monday, 26 September 1988 13:40 Final

Results[]

Round 1[]

The first round was held on Friday, 23 September 1988.

Heat 1[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Faouzi Lahbi  Morocco 1:47.82 Q
2 Nixon Kiprotich  Kenya 1:48.68 Q
3 Ryszard Ostrowski  Poland 1:49.04 Q
4 Moussa Fall  Senegal 1:49.14
5 Spyros Spyrou  Cyprus 1:49.84
6 Porfirio Méndez  Paraguay 1:50.72
7 Mansour Al-Baloushi  Oman 1:51.03
8 Yussuf Moli Yesky  Chad 1:57.97

Heat 2[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Babacar Niang  Senegal 1:47.65 Q
2 Steve Cram  Great Britain 1:47.77 Q
3 Donato Sabia  Italy 1:47.84 Q
4 Mohamed Ismail Youssef  Qatar 1:48.20
5 Yu Tae-Gyeong  South Korea 1:48.61
6 Eversley Linley  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1:51.71
7 Lui Muavesi  Fiji 1:54.48
— Haji Bakr Al-Qahtani  Saudi Arabia DSQ

Heat 3[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Johnny Gray  United States 1:48.83 Q
2 Ari Suhonen  Finland 1:48.90 Q
3 Ibrahim Okash  Somalia 1:48.97 Q
4 António Abrantes  Portugal 1:49.01
5 Mauricio Hernández  Mexico 1:49.03
6 Kenneth Dzekedzeke  Malawi 1:50.60
7 Lin Kuang-Liang  Chinese Taipei 1:52.95

Heat 4[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Vladimir Graudyn  Soviet Union 1:48.90 Q
2 Pablo Squella  Chile 1:48.99 Q
3 Alvaro Silva  Portugal 1:49.09 Q
4 Mark Everett  United States 1:49.86
5 Mike Watson  Bermuda 1:50.16
6 Syed Meshaq Rizvi  Pakistan 1:51.58
7 Manlio Molinari  San Marino 1:52.35
8 John Siguria  Papua New Guinea 1:56.12

Heat 5[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Saïd Aouita  Morocco 1:49.67 Q
2 Simon Hoogewerf  Canada 1:49.76 Q
3 Cheikh Tidiane Boye  Senegal 1:49.89 Q
4 Tracy Baskin  United States 1:50.38
5 Ado Maude  Nigeria 1:50.48
6 Eulucane Ndagijimana  Rwanda 1:52.08
7 Maher Abbas  Lebanon 1:53.76
8 David Sawyerr  Sierra Leone 1:57.88

Heat 6[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Peter Braun  West Germany 1:47.32 Q
2 Rob Druppers  Netherlands 1:47.48 Q
3 Tonino Viali  Italy 1:47.74 Q
4 Bobby Gaseitsiwe  Botswana 1:48.08
5 Agberto Guimarães  Brazil 1:48.49
6 Fahmi Abdul Wahab  North Yemen 1:55.24
7 Momodou Bello N'Jie  The Gambia 1:55.57
8 Nimley Twegbe  Liberia 1:58.43

Heat 7[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Peter Elliott  Great Britain 1:46.83 Q
2 Robin van Helden  Netherlands 1:46.99 Q
3 Juma Ndiwa  Kenya 1:47.11 Q
4 Tomás de Teresa  Spain 1:47.32 q
5 Ahmed Bel Kessam  Algeria 1:47.96 q
6 Duan Xiuquan  China 1:52.17
— Kazanga Makok  Zaire DSQ
Tommy Asinga  Suriname DSQ

Heat 8[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Paul Ereng  Kenya 1:46.14 Q
2 José Luíz Barbosa  Brazil 1:46.32 Q
3 Slobodan Popović  Yugoslavia 1:46.49 Q
4 Colomán Trabado  Spain 1:46.76 q
5 Paul Osland  Canada 1:47.16 q
6 Mohamed Hossain Milzer  Bangladesh 1:51.16
7 Josep Graells  Andorra 1:53.34

Heat 9[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Joaquim Cruz  Brazil 1:47.16 Q
2 Tom McKean  Great Britain 1:47.24 Q
3 Melford Homela  Zimbabwe 1:47.36 Q
4 Réda Abdenouz  Algeria 1:47.67 q
5 Dale Jones  Antigua and Barbuda 1:49.31
6 João N'Tyamba  Angola 1:53.23
7 Oslen Barr  Guyana 1:55.95
8 William Taramai  Cook Islands 1:58.80

Quarterfinals[]

The quarterfinals were held on Saturday, 24 September 1988.

Quarterfinal 1[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Joaquim Cruz  Brazil 1:46.10 Q
2 Paul Ereng  Kenya 1:46.38 Q
3 Cheikh Boyé  Senegal 1:46.62 Q
4 Réda Abdenouz  Algeria 1:46.97 Q
5 Vladimir Graudyn  Soviet Union 1:47.07
6 Paul Osland  Canada 1:48.02
7 Tonino Viali  Italy 1:50.85
— Ari Suhonen  Finland DNF

Quarterfinal 2[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Johnny Gray  United States 1:45.96 Q
2 Simon Hoogewerf  Canada 1:45.99 Q
3 José Luiz Barbosa  Brazil 1:46.20 Q
4 Ibrahim Okash  Somalia 1:46.55 Q
5 Rob Druppers  Netherlands 1:46.91
6 Juma Ndiwa  Kenya 1:47.27
7 Faouzi Lahbi  Morocco 1:47.32
— Tom McKean  Great Britain 1:46.40 DSQ

Quarterfinal 3[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Saïd Aouita  Morocco 1:45.24 Q
2 Slobodan Popović  Yugoslavia 1:45.30 Q
3 Babacar Niang  Senegal 1:45.38 Q
4 Nixon Kiprotich  Kenya 1:45.68 Q
5 Pablo Squella  Chile 1:46.45
6 Steve Cram  Great Britain 1:46.47
7 Robin van Helden  Netherlands 1:46.61
8 Tomas de Teresa  Spain 1:48.01

Quarterfinal 4[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Donato Sabia  Italy 1:46.58 Q
2 Peter Elliott  Great Britain 1:46.61 Q
3 Alvaro Silva  Portugal 1:46.65 Q
4 Peter Braun  West Germany 1:46.86 Q
5 Ahmed Belkessam  Algeria 1:46.93
6 Ryszard Ostrowski  Poland 1:47.72
7 Colomán Trabado  Spain 1:48.12
8 Melford Homela  Zimbabwe 1:49.62

Semifinals[]

The semifinals were held on Sunday, 25 September 1988.

Semifinal 1[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Paul Ereng  Kenya 1:44.55 Q
2 Joaquim Cruz  Brazil 1:44.75 Q
3 Donato Sabia  Italy 1:44.90 Q
4 Peter Elliott  Great Britain 1:44.94 Q
5 Babacar Niang  Senegal 1:45.09
6 Slobodan Popović  Yugoslavia 1:45.11
7 Simon Hoogewerf  Canada 1:47.30
8 Peter Braun  West Germany 1:47.43

Semifinal 2[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Nixon Kiprotich  Kenya 1:44.71 Q
2 Saïd Aouita  Morocco 1:44.79 Q
3 José Luiz Barbosa  Brazil 1:44.99 Q
4 Johnny Gray  United States 1:45.04 Q
5 Alvaro Silva  Portugal 1:45.12
6 Cheikh Boyé  Senegal 1:45.93
7 Réda Abdenouz  Algeria 1:45.95
8 Ibrahim Okash  Somalia 1:46.62

Final[]

Rank Athlete Nation Time
1st place, gold medalist(s) Paul Ereng  Kenya 1:43.55
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Joaquim Cruz  Brazil 1:43.90
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Saïd Aouita  Morocco 1:44.06
4 Peter Elliott  Great Britain 1:44.12
5 Johnny Gray  United States 1:44.80
6 José Luiz Barbosa  Brazil 1:46.39
7 Donato Sabia  Italy 1:48.03
8 Nixon Kiprotich  Kenya 1:49.55

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1988 Seoul 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 8 August 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 2, pp. 224–26.

External links[]

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