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

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 0.36 seconds 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.

Men's 800 metres
at the Games of the XXI Olympiad
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
← 1972
1980 →

Summary

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Round 1

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The first round was held on July 23, 1976.

Heat 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Rick Wohlhuter   United States 1:45.71 Q
2 Sriram 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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The semifinals were held on July 24, 1976.

Semifinal 1

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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 Sriram 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

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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

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The final was held on July 25, 1976.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
  Alberto Juantorena   Cuba 1:43.50 WR
  Ivo van Damme   Belgium 1:43.86
  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

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References

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  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.