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

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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

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.

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
1st place, gold medalist(s) William Tanui  Kenya 1:43.66
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Nixon Kiprotich  Kenya 1:43.70
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 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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