Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres


The Men's 800 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, was held at the Olympic Stadium on 6–9 August.
Reigning world champion David Rudisha won the race in 1:40.91, becoming the first person to break 1:41 and improving on his own world record. The reigning world junior champion, Nijel Amos, finished second in 1:41.73, establishing a new world junior record and Botswana national record. In an exceptionally fast final, all runners except Abubaker Kaki set personal bests, including three national records. The finishing times were the fastest recorded for each placing and it constituted the first time that eight athletes ran under 1:44 in the same race. All the athletes in the race produced times that would have won the final in Beijing. The eighth-place finisher, Andrew Osagie, produced a time that would have won the gold medal at all but three of the previous Olympic 800m finals.
Rudisha led from the start of the race, easing from lane 4 to the break with a determined Kaki in tow. By the halfway mark in 49.28 Mohammed Aman lined up off Kaki's shoulder. During the next 200 meters, Rudisha put a gap on the field and Kaki began falling back. The scramble was on to see who had anything left or, like Kaki, who would pay the price. As Rudisha showed the strain of his effort, Nijel Amos and Timothy Kitum started to make up a little of the ground Rudisha had built up. Running at the back of the field, Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds made a late run, finishing just a step out of the medals.
Amos' silver medal was the first Olympic medal ever for Botswana.

Competition format

The competition had seven heats in the first round, three semi-finals and a final. The top three in the first round heats progressed, as did the three fastest non-qualifiers. The top two finishers in the semi-final race reached the finals and the two fastest runners outside these runners made up the eight finalists.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
World record1:41.01Rieti, Italy29 August 2010
Olympic record1:42.58Atlanta, United States31 July 1996
2012 World leading1:41.54Paris, France6 July 2012

The following records were established during the competition:
DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
9 AugustFinalDavid Rudisha1:40.91WR

The following national records were set during the competition.
Kenya national record1:40.91 s
Botswana national record1:41.73 s
Ethiopia national record1:43.20 s

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time
DateTimeRound
Monday, 6 August 201210:50Round 1
Tuesday, 7 August 201219:55Semifinals
Thursday, 9 August 201220:00Finals

Results

Round 1

Qual. rule: first 3 of each heat plus the 3 fastest times qualified.

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Heat 5

Heat 6

Heat 7

Semifinals

Qual. rule: first 2 of each heat plus the 2 fastest times qualified.

Heat 1

RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1Abubaker Kaki1:44.51Q
2Nijel Amos1:44.54Q
3Adam Kszczot1:45.34
4Anthony Chemut1:45.63
5Robert Lathouwers1:45.85
6Luis Alberto Marco1:46.19
7Fabiano Pecanha1:46.29
Sajad MoradiDQ

Heat 2

RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1David Rudisha1:44.35Q
2Andrew Osagie1:44.74Q
3Nick Symmonds1:44.87q
4Marcin Lewandowski1:45.08
5Yuriy Borzakovskiy1:45.09SB
6Kevin Lopez1:46.66
7Musaeb Abdulrahman Balla1:47.52
8Hamada Mohamed1:48.18
9Andy Gonzalez1:53.46

Heat 3

RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1Mohammed Aman1:44.34Q
2Timothy Kitum1:44.63Q
3Duane Solomon1:44.93q
4Pierre-Ambroise Bosse1:45.10
5André Olivier1:45.44
6Antonio Manuel Reina1:45.84
7Geoffrey Harris1:46.14
8Abdulaziz Mohammed1:48.98

Final

RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
David Rudisha1:40.91WR, NR
Nijel Amos1:41.73WJR, NR
Timothy Kitum1:42.53PB
4Duane Solomon1:42.82PB
5Nick Symmonds1:42.95PB
6Mohammed Aman1:43.20NR
7Abubaker Kaki1:43.32SB
8Andrew Osagie1:43.77PB

Splits